A Drunkard's Lost Sword
by Razzi Zadhna
Summary: A Lowee itemshop girl. A genderbending perpetually drunk-swordsman. They fight crime...sort of. Actually, they just adventure and get into shenanigans, sometimes with canon characters. Rated M for references to sexual acts, but not much else explicit material besides that. OC, some male OCs though main character is FeMC.
1. Chapter 1: A Frozen Beginning

I'm not sure there's much to say about this fic. I got the idea browsing the fanfic thread on the official NISA Neptunia forums. My goal with this is to create a funny fic that uses OCs (and male ones at that) while not being a generic Marty Stu story. It's challenge and I like challenges!

Rated T for some swearing andreferences to sexual acts (especially later ones), but nothing explicitly sexual happens in this.

Yurifans, there is no yuri in this. Sorry. There is no romance, really, so don't worry about OcxCanon romance.

Now, some background: This story uses HDN1's floating landmasses, but there are Mk2 and Victory characters like Plutia and Nepgear...eventually. Don't ask about what game's plot this takes place after or before, Neptunia is a clusterfuck of massive proportions and fuck trying to make sense of its alternate universes. Also note that I've only played the first game, and the last I played that was like 2 years ago. So please tell me if I'm going OOC with some canon characters, I try my best to make sure they're in character.

Feel free to rip this fic to shreds if you want. I appreciate the criticism, but if it's nothing more complex than "Fuck original characters!" and "What's a dude doing in my Neptunia, this sucks!" then don't post it.

/

It was _always_ cold in Lowee. That was just a given.

Indeed, to Alba, it was rather boring. One did not wake up and wonder what the weather was. It was snowing. And freezing. All the time. It was sometimes infuriating after a while. Everyday, she got up and looked outside to see snow for the 6000th time. Surely there could be _something_ different after a while.

Maybe she needed to simply go outside of Lowee but it wasn't like that would happen—she had no real money, and in all honesty didn't know just how well she'd deal with the different cultures.

"Dammit, I need a plot hook and fast...I gotta get out of this damn item shop!"

She was glad that no one else was around for her shift in her shop; otherwise, they would've probably wondered what all of her gratuitous hand-wringing was for. Well, not her shop, but one owned by her parents, which basically damned her to taking it over when they inevitably kicked the bucket. Her entire goal since learning that was to make sure she _didn't_ have to inherit it. Then again, when everyone who came into the shop assumed she was 5 years younger than she actually was, would anyone even take her seriously as a storeowner?

"You know, White Heart, bless you and the glories you do for us in Lowee, but I need to ditch this place fast. Surely _something_ has to happen that's interesting in my life. I'm the main character...I think."

With a sigh, she plumped down hard onto a nearby chair, nearly slipping from it, her soft baby-blue hair fluttering and shining a little in the light coming from a window. It was about the only window light _was_ coming from, the rest of them blocked by the gigantic stacks of items piled everywhere in a disheveled mess. Alba had to constantly be careful lest she make one tiny misstep and send a literal ton of useless crap on her head. She had never even figured out why her parents kept all this useless crap. Even the most paranoid adventurers didn't buy that much. Maybe it was for the looks, she didn't really know.

Her snow-white dress shone brightly in the sunlight, free of blemishes. Constantly dealing with the stock meant that it normally was somewhat dirty.

"Well, if I'm gonna be running this place, at least let some adventurers come or something..." She stretched to alleviate the boredom, nearly knocking over a set of books before jerking back almost as a reflex. The books still twitched slightly, nearly making her instinctively jump. She was a rather short person; that combined with stacks of useless stuff falling on her made for a bad day. After confirming (three times) that the stack _probably_ wasn't going to fall, she returned to her seat, sighing slowly in relief.

Then the door opened with a small jingle.

"My CPU! God...ish cold outthere!"

The voice from the front of the story was completely baffling. Alba could barely make any of it out before deciding to investigate. Of course, she (tried) to put on her biggest smile...

"Hello..customer...when you are here, you are blessed by the CPU herself, White Heart-"

Alba stopped in her tracks upon seeing the person there. It was a...man. He clearly looked like an adventurer, clad in some minor armor with an empty scabbard at his hip. He was rather short, though still taller than Alba herself, and he seemed to be from Planeptune, judging from his clothing and purple hair. He was staggering around like a drunkard, holding onto to a desk to keep standing

"Can...can I help you, sir?"

"What?" He looked up at her, dazed and slurring his speech like. "You...you run thiiiiss plaaaace?" His words were simply pouring out his mouth like a slurred waterfall, and his face was burning red all-around.

Alba could barely make out what he saying. "I...um...yes, I sort of run it...well, no one else is here so, yes...?" She made good to stand behind the counter of her shop—Only White Heart knew what shit he was going to pull.

"Oh...gooood." The man stumbled a bit closer to the counter, Alba moving further backwards in turn.

"What is you name, sir?" Regardless of the circumstances, Alba tried her best to remain professional.

"Oh...my naaame ish...uh..."

Silence.

"UH...shit, I can't remember. Man, I got craaaaaaZEE drunk in Planeptune..."

Alba started to back away even further. "Sir...sir, there's...there's no way you can't remember your name."

"Of courshe I can't! I'm drunk! I can barely remember...what I did over these past few weeks..."

Alba considered merely walking away and hoping he was took drunk to notice/care, but the only way out was the door. The last thing she wanted to do was pass by him, so it seemed she was stuck there. "Ugh, is this what they call a rock and a hard place? Anyway, you can't possibly have forgotten your own _name_!"

"Ishtrue!" He continued to stumble around like a drunken sailor, miraculously not hitting anything. It was like he was so used to being drunk, he could still keep his balance, as much as one could do such while completely blasted.

Alba shrugged in defeat. "Well, I guess I'll just call you Drunkard McLoserstein then." A devious smile ran across her face.

The sheer shock of being given not the most...positive sobriquet seemed to jolt the man awake. "W-what?! 'Drunkard McLoserstein'!? There's...there's no way I'm gonna be named that!" A little more sober, he stopped stumbling and walked up the counter in a fit of anger; he almost looked badass, there, but only ALMOST. Alba could get a slightly better view of his features from there—he honestly was kinda girlish in looks...

She tried to let none of this mess with her, though. "Well, check the dialogue box. It once said '?' and now it says "Drunkard McLoserstein'."

"We're not even in a video game right now!"

"Don't get mad at me, Stein." Out of boredom, Alba started to rap her fingers on the glass of the counter, keeping her head supported with her other hand.

"'Stein'? Now, that's a name more fitting for me!" Stein leaned forward and slammed his fist on the table so hard the glass nearly cracked, causing the items inside to shake a little. He was uncomfortably close, making Alba draw back, somewhat disgusted. "Hows about I tell you of the time I once won the adoration of a whole village in Leanbox?" His face broke into a haughty grin. Alba was filled with the intense urge to punch it.

"You?" She lazily stared in him in bored incredulity. "I have trouble believing that."

"Of course!" With a complete excess of histrionics, Stein shot his finger into the air like some Super Sentai hero. The difference between him before and him now was massive. "It all started when a fair maiden, decked in lovely green, asked me as I walked in, 'Oh, sir, we are plagued by such horrible monsters!'..."

Stein began to spin a tale that was obviously complete bullshit. Alba listened to him in complete disbelief that someone could be so pathetic as to make up such idiocy. According to him, he defeated a monster so large its roars cracked stone, with nothing more than his famous sword, and in the end, had been so loved by the "fair maiden" she and him "banged all night long" (his words). Every part of it was complete BS, and at the end, Alba just punched herself in the head in hopes of forgetting it.

Having finished his story, Stein struck yet another dramatic pose and beckoned for Alba to come closer. "And that's the end! Hah, do you want to see if that girl's compliments of my manhood were true or not?"

Alba sighed and buried her face in her hands. "No, and I sincerely wish you would get out of my store."

"What?!" Stein stopped his macho-posturing for a second to wring his hands in disbelief. "I came here for a purpose, you know!"

"And that was...?"

"To get some alcohol! I need the stuff!" Stein began to scan the area for drinks.

"You don't need alcohol." Alba rose stiffly, stretching her arms a little. "You're just a drunkard. But if you want some booze then go down to the local bar, and please try not to make a fool of yourself."

Strein pouted like a child with arms crossed. "I'm sorry but I do need that booze while I search for what I lost."

"And what would you have lost?"

"I lost—oh, HELL-" Before he could finish, a massive blast of smoke blasted through the area like a bomb. Not expecting it, Alba was thrown off her seat, though more from surprise. The thick smoke quickly dispersed throughout the shop, causing a massive cascade of items, nearly crushing Alba with the collective weight of books, potions, armor, and CPU-knew what else. She quickly came to and started pushing the junk off of her before getting seriously injured, though her dress was slightly torn and dirty. The smoke was still in the air, provoking coughs from the two of them.

"WHAT THE HELL!? You tried to kill me!"

"I...*hack*...didn't..." Stein's voice was radically different for some reason.

When the smoke finally dissipated, Alba saw _why_. "What...what the hell happened to you?"

The person standing in front of her was much like Stein in some respects. They had the same height, the same purple hair, and were wearing roughly the same clothes and armor.

Except they were a...girl?

"Oh, dammit!" Stein(?) looked at him-er, herself in complete rage, slamming her fist against the wall. Another stack of items fell but at this point, they barely mattered when half the shop was strewn all over the floor. Her (rather large) breasts heaved, nearly hypnotizing Alba before she shook herself back to her senses.

She rubbed her eyes _three_ times to verify what was going on. Stein(?) was still a girl by the third time. "You're...you're a girl now?!"

"I told you." Stein(?) sighed as if this happened frequently. "I need alcohol, or _this_ happens."

Alba stared at him wide-eyes for a few seconds. "What?!"

"When I'm sober, I transform into a girl." Stein collapsed onto a pile of books and rolled his eyes. "It's a curse I got when traveling."

Alba was _still _staring at him unblinkingly. "That's...a rather specific curse."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just give me some damn booze already!"

What possessed Alba to actually go to the back of the store and dig into her parent's wine collection was beyond her, but then again she had little respect for her parents. In the end, she decided to grab a sparkling purple bottle from Planeptune. "He looks like he's from there...here, take this. I'm only giving you this as a subtle 'fuck you' to my parents for saddling me with this damn shop."

Returning with it, the bottle was immediately snatched out of her hands by Stein and imbibed within seconds. In another flash of smoke (though much smaller), he was back to the rather trappish guy he was before. "Man, thanks!" He managed to squeeze that out while downing nearly the whole bottle. "I'm back to normal! I look a little girly now, but that's only because of the curse." He sounded less he was trying to convince Alba and more like he was trying to convince himself.

Alba merely responded with a flat "I'm so overjoyed." Afterwards, she snatched the empty bottle from him. "Go to a bar if you want anymore."

Stein wiped his mouth dry in relief. "Alright, I guess I'll be leaving then..."

"No way." Alba sternly walked over and gripped his hand tightly. "I don't trust you to not make an idiot of yourself out there, and in all honesty, I want to know a little more about you."

/

Stein and Alba found themselves walking the snow-covered streets of Lowee, though they certainly were not the most usual couple in existence. Both of them kept a fair distance between each other, enough to the point where the average bypasser wouldn't've guessed that they were walking together. Alba endlessly kept an eye on Stein, who was acting a little drunk—but still seemed relatively sober. "He can sure drink a lot..."

Eventually, however, Alba saw that Stein wasn't _quite_ so bad. They passed by quite a few girls along the way and he didn't try to lecherously grope them or anything debauched like that, so after a while, she closed the distance until the two could talk together. The sight of a seemingly-Planeptune man and a Lowee woman drew a few odd stares from prejudiced citizens.

"What did you lose again? We were interrupted."

Stein racked his head for answers, gripping it like remembering was painful. "Huh...oh yeah, I lost my glorious sword, Gladius."

"Your 'glorious sword''s name is just 'sword' in Latin...?"

"Who cares!?"

The two passed by a ragged man preaching about the wonders of White Heart on a literal soapbox. He seemed to be repelling a crowd more than attracting one as he rambled on and on about her glories and wonders. Alba just scoffed at him.

Returning her sight forward, she continued to press for info. "Anyway...where did you lose it?"

"In Planeptune. I'll remember it no matter what!" Stein looked like some kid who was proud at getting a question right. "I got somewhat drunk and then when I had walked into Lowee, I realized that I had lost it!"

Alba let that spin in her head for a few seconds; then she realized that Lowee was nowhere near Planeptune at the moment. Indeed, it was as far as possible from it! "Wait, you lost it in Planeptune and then only realized that in Lowee?!"

"Yes, why?"

"That means you walked through Leanbox and Lastation _without realizing you lost your sword."_

"And?"

"That's completely absurd!"

They turned another corner and came to a small pub, a rather comfy place that didn't take up much room but looked rather well-worn, with a small sign containing a mushroom. Lowee had never really been much for pubs—it prided itself on being rather "family-friendly", and even with the restrictions lifted a little, adult entertainment was taking a while to get there. Made for great family tourism, though.

While they stood outside the pub, a completely crazy woman was hawking knives nearby. "This is the Excelsior Bonecutter 3000! Cuts through flesh, armor, sinew, and bone all with ease!"

"Well, here we are." Alba pointed towards the pub.

"Good. I need beer...don't want to be a woman..."

"Sometimes you get stuck in a snowstorm! You gotta eat people!"

Alba sighed in complete disbelief about Stein. He was completely nuts, and not really in the good way. He seemed less like a real person and more like a character in some humor fiction...wait a minute...

"You are the weirdest Planeptune guy I ever met."

"What?" Stein shot her a look of pure confusion. "I'm not from Planeptune...?"

"What?" Alba shot him one of her own in return. "But...you have purple hair."

Stein looked like he had just been called a slur and rolled his eyes. "What? You think all Planeptune people have purple hair because our CPU does? How prejudiced?"

Alba's face turned red as a tomato. "N-n-no I didn't!" She shied away from him and looked at the ground in embarrassment. "It's...it's just that all the Planeptune people in like, movies and stuff have purple hair!"

Of course, Stein couldn't let such an opportunity to get back at her pass by. "Wow, I didn't know Lowee was so damn backwards. I knew the place was kind of behind with the times, but wooooow." The smug smile on his face made Alba want to crawl into a hole and die. "Maybe I should say you look like a Lowee because you have light, fair hair?"

"No you shouldn't!"

"Then don't say I'm from Planeptune just because I have purple hair!" Alba honestly felt bad for assuming such a thing, and she quickly apologized to Stein.

Their little 'lovers' tiff" was stopped by two unfamiliar faces walking down the street. They were hazy in the distance, and quickly came into full view—the makers IF and Compa. A few people stopped and stared as they walked by, but normal business was quickly resumed. IF just looked annoyed at the people, and beckoned Compa to come along.

When she saw Stein, however, she stopped dead in her tracks. "Compa! Hey, Compa!" She yelled out pointing rather rudely at him. "Look at this guy!"

Compa followed her finger and got a good look at Stein. "Isn't...he...that guy?"

"He's gotta, come on." IF quickly pulled her along rather forcibly, nearly tripping Compa as she ran towards Stein. Alba was just rather confused at these proceedings.

When IF finally reached him, she took one good look at him and exclaimed in sheer surprise. "You're...you're..."

Stein, rather _desperate_ for female attention at this point, reacted quite enthusiastically to IF's interest in him. "You're...you're the adventurer, IF!"

"Yeah! And you're that crazy drunk idiot who crashed his car into the Planeptune Basilicom!"

"Yes, I...WHAT!?"

IF pointed towards him again and started talking to Compa like he wasn't there. "Compa, it's him! Don't you remember that? It was all over the news."

Compa, who had chosen silence as of then, finally spoke up in her demure voice. "Yeah...I do remember him! He wrecked the Basilicom so badly they had to spend a month fixing it, right?"

Stein looked like he was about to collapse from embarrassment, sweat beading on his face. "I...I don't remember that at all, that is clearly a lie!"

"No way it's a lie. I saw it on TV!" IF smirked while chuckling. "You were so drunk that you tried to recite the alphabet _upside-down_. They took away your driver's license, didn't they?"

"No they did not-" Stein's hands quickly searched his pockets and found that, yes, his driver's license was completely gone. "My driver's license is...missing."

"Of course it is." IF could barely restrain herself. "They took it from you on national TV!"

Alba was feeling completely left out of the conversation, though she also felt like there wasn't much she could add.

/

Stein had left the girls to their own devices while acquiring some emergency booze. IF, Compa, and Alba decided to wait inside a nearby shop, very similar to Alba's, except staffed by people who actually gave a shit. So, it was much nicer and cleaner, with all of its wares neatly stacked and organized instead of haphazardly mashed on top of each other. The owners had even went to the trouble of putting a tiny cafe inside.

IF took a warm swig of the tea Alba had ordered, delighting in its warmth after the freezing Lowee streets. "How did you even get involved with a guy like that?"

"He...he just stumbled into my shop out of nowhere." Alba looked down at the empty spot where her tea _should_ have been if not for IF's quick fingers. "And...honestly, what happened next was so bizarre I could barely comprehend it."

"He...he seems like a complete creepazoid to me!" Compa shivered a tiny bit and emitted a small brrr, her eyes shut in disgust. "I could just tell...I hope I don't meet him again."

Alba shrugged in disappointed agreement. "Yeah, I really can't say many good things about him. He says he's some famous swordsman who's banged a lot of chicks, but that's so obviously bull."

"Famous swordsman?" IF set her cup down, the tea in it slowly steaming. "That guy was so drunk he could barely stand up when they managed to pry him from the Basilicom wreckage."

Compa eyed the room carefully before leaning over the table and whispering. "Sounds to me like he's just a loser who wants to make himself fell big and strong."

IF recoiled a little from the sudden movement. "Compa, that's rather harsh from you...even if I do agree myself."

Alba finally grabbed her tea from If and sighed into the steam rising from it. Surely her life was meant to be better than this. "I thought main characters get better treatment than this...and better party members."

Right as she took a long sip, the beverage delightfully warming her chest, Stein stumbled out of the bar, _three_ massive bottles of booze tried to his belt. Eying the girls in the mirror, he managed to stumble across the street and enter the shop, his face as red as a tomato. "Hi, girrrrs..." His speech was slurred heavily.

The owner of the shop threw his hands up in annoyance at the drunkard while Stein walked over to the girls, all three them recoiling instinctively at his presence.

"Wot? I'm not zaaat druuunnnnk..." He could barely stand straight, swaying back and forth in a slow daze.

Alba just buried her hands in her face while IF and Compa smiled awkwardly.

/

Stein had thankfully been (forcibly) moved outside by the storeowner, allowing the three girls to continue their talk. They really didn't cover much in the way of actual conversation, but Alba appreciated the chance to speak to_ someone_ who wasn't Stein.

IF got on her good side quickly by telling her of her various travels. Apparently this Lowee city was but one stop on her travels. "Well, I guess I can tell you about the time Neptune, Compa, and I went to Lastation..."

Compa, having been silent for most of the conversation, finally decided to nervously speak up"I think you've told her enough..." Her face was in an awkward smile, almost apologizing to Alba.

But Alba instead jumped up with such ferocity and passion both girls were stunned. "NO! Please, I want to know more! I _must _know more! I'll never get to travel outside of this-" The storeowner shot her a dirty look and she quickly sat down, blushing fiercely. "So-sorry." She said with a nervous laugh. "I...I just really want to travel outside of Lowee..."

"Who says you can't?" IF asked her with a rather forceful tone. "It's not like it takes money if you're walking."

"IF, I don't think we should be giving such a young girl ideas..."

"I'm not young!"

/

After speaking for a while, IF and Compa decided to part ways. Compa was kind enough to suggest that Alba should go see if any quests were up—all adventurers had to start somewhere, after all. Alba thanked them graciously and went outside to see Stein, who had mostly sobered up, though he was still a guy.

"You're rather sober for being a guy right now." She remarked as she stepped outside, shivering a little in the cold, icy wind blowing through.

"I need just the _tiniest_ drop of alcohol in my blood to be a man." Stein was holding an empty wine bottle standing stoutly in the icy wind. He clearly seemed to have _some_ experience as an adventurer, even if his stories were bullshit.

Alba walked past him and beckoned for him to come along. "Look, I'll drop you off at an inn. There's bound to be one in this town, assuming it follows the Standard RPG Town Building Guide."

Stein started to follow behind her, wiping the wine from his mouth. "That's a thing?"

"Yes. Hopefully you're not my first party member. I need someone desperately better."

"Why you ungrateful girl!"

The two of them argued all the way through the icy wind, attracting attention as they wound their way through the delicate streets. Alba merely wanted to dump Stein as fast as possible, so she took a few shortcuts to reach a nearby inn. After a while, Stein was too drunk to ague correctly, so she was afforded some golden nuggets of silence. While she walked, she thought about what IF said. Could she really be a traveler like that? Was she really fit out for fighting and adventuring? She honestly didn't know. But, on the other hand: she had to try. She couldn't be honest with herself unless she tried it once. But... how?

/

Inside the inn, a rather generic, yet comfy place, the bizarre duo approached the woman at the front desk.

Alba was first to speak. "Excuse, I'm looking for a room..."

The woman, a young, bright woman with a pretty smile, laughed to herself. "For two? Try not to make too much noise when you're doing it, okay?" She said in a patronizing and snickering tone.

Alba's face went red as a tomato, while even Stein laughed. "No, no NO! For him, just him! Besides this is Neptunia, where everyone is gay!"

Stein looked surprised at that statement. "Even the women?"

"_Especially _the women."

The lady at the front desk stopped her laughing for a while. "Just don't sneak in his room at night, sweety~" Ignoring Alba's cries of protest, she looked up a free room. "We have one left, left me check the price...3000 credits for two nights."

Both Alba and Stein balked, cold sweats forming on their faces, dropping slowly. They looked at each other, desperately hoping the other one had the money.

"I hope you have adventuring money, because I'm broke"

"I spent all my money on booze! Why can't I just stay at your house!?"

"Do you think my parents would let me bring a drunk man into the house!?"

The two of them looked back at the lady, their faces burning with embarrassment. She smiled a little at their plight. "Well, why not adventure to get the money? A few quests would get you that with ease."

Alba and Stein nervously looked at each other again.

"I hope you have adventuring experience, boy."

"I hope you can hold your own in a fight!"

This was not going to end well.


	2. Chapter 2: ACES

A Drunkard's Lost Sword

Chapter 2: Oh Look, The Chapters Are Named Now

Ugh, that lack of a cover on is killing me. But I suuuck at making covers and I highly doubt that I could find a picture accurately summarizing this clusterfuck of a fic.

Fun fact: I have not planned this shit out at all. This is fly-by-your-seat writing, folks, which means I'll lost interest in 4 chapters. Or maybe not, if I can actually tie something of a plot together with this.

Also, one again, I have played no other games than the first, so if someone's a tiny bit OOC, please tell me. Please review if you read too, I like to know the people reading this clusterfuck.

/

While Stein and Alba were fretting over their monetary troubles, something very different, yet related, was going on in Planeptune...

It was about noon in Planeptune, the sun shining brightly over the metropolis of the capital city. Citizens of the city were spending their ample free time buzzing off to work on the local highways or shopping down in the business sector of downtown. Whatever they were doing, Planeptune's technological progress was helping them; on one side of the town, a man ordered a new computer, custom-made, from the comfort of his own phone, while on the complete opposite side, a woman took the landmass-wide subway that would allow her to cross it in less than one hour. The whole city was designed with a pleasing warm lilac, in the image of the CPU Neptune.

Speaking of Neptune, she was enjoying a stroll with her sister, Nepgear, on the outskirts of the capital. The place they had chosen was a nice little garden, filled with lilac and purple flowers, away from the city and thus quiet and simple. Well, it would have been quiet had Neptune not been there. Actually, Neptune was more running around while Nepgear was chasing her...

"Yipee! Finally free from that boring business at the Basilicom!" Neptune twirled around the flowers blooming bright purple, smiling widely as Nepgear ran after her, nearly about to collapse from running so much. "Yeah, yeah, so that idiot destroyed it...who cares!? Dealing with bureaucracy honestly just cramps my style."

"Nep...tune..." Nepgear finally caught up with her hyperactive sister, gasping for breath, covered in sweat, before finally collapsing on the ground with a dull thud.

"Nepgear, what are you doing there?" Neptune was cheery even when watching her own sister practically waste away. "The ground isn't particularly comfortable, you know."

"I...know..." Clawing the dirt around her, Nepgear slowly dragged herself to her feet, gasping for breath. "But...you shouldn't...just run...off like that!"

"And who said, I couldn't? I'm the CPU!" Neptune proceeded to stroll onto the nearby flowerbeds like they meant nothing to her. "I can walk all over people's gardens if I want! I'm doing it right now! I just don't because people don't like a complete dick for a CPU!" Everything she said was so cheery.

Nepgear sighed at her sister's behavior. "And because you're not a 'dick', Neptune! I know that. You're just...too much to handle."

"Look, you just had to sit around outside while I dealt with everything. Who cares if one dude wrecks his car into a Basilicom, we have like five of them, don't we?" Neptune continued to trample the flowers without a single care.

"Four. And please step out of those flowers, they belong to somebody!"

"Alright, fine. But only because my beloved sister says so-" While Neptune said that, her foot impacted a sharp metallic object with a clang, tripping her. Arms flailing, she fell out of the Flowerbed on the other side; Nepgear quickly ran around it to help her. "Ow, what the hell was that?"

"You okay?!" Nepgear came over and helped her up. "It made a really sharp sound when you hit it..."

Neptune looked back and saw a sword lying in the flowerbed. "It's a...sword." She picked it up; it was a spatha in terrible condition: the blade was chipped in three places, so dirty it had only a dull reflection, and incredibly dull. The handguard was completely missing on one side and the handle's leather strips were tearing off. The thing looked like it had been through a war. "Holy craparoni! This thing is more used and dirty than Noire's vibra-"

Nepgear leaped in to cut her off. "ANYWAY...er...why is it here?"

Neptune shrugged. "Beats me." She examined it a little more. "Maybe the owner name-tagged it. Perhaps it was his pet sword."

"Then that's just plain pet abuse..."

Neptune examined it a little further before finding some writing etched into the blade. "I found something! It says...'Gladius' on the side, here, see?" Neptune pointed to the faint etching.

Nepgear had to strain her eyes to see it, but it was there. "That doesn't tell us much though. It looks so old, the owner might have just abandoned it."

"Eh, I guess. It's too battered for any use." Neptune casually chucked the sword into the nearby flowerbed, where it laid amongst the endlesss sea of purple.

/

"Someone just picked up my sword!" Stein bursted out with this from nowhere while he and Alba walked down the cold Lowee streets., his eyes wide-open, knuckles turning white from clenching them, his face in a grimace of anger that scared a nearby woman

After recoiling from the sudden outburst (along with several other people who stopped and stared at Stein), Alba rolled her eyes in annoyance. "How could you possibly know that?"

"Now they _threw _it!" Stein threw his hands into the air in a completely histrionic manner that smacked Alba in the face and sent her off her feet into the ground. "Oh, sorry!" That little incident appeared to have made Stein return to his senses as he quickly swooped down, intending to help Alba like the dashing gentleman he thought he was, only to trip as well and collapse into the snowy street with a dull thud.

Alba decided to merely help herself. "Good thing you're brainless, otherwise that could've been a serious concussion."

"I am NOT brainless." Stein objected, rising to his feet quickly. "And for that matter, I was merely trying to help you up like a gentleman."

Alba brushed herself off, snow delicately falling off her dress. "I don't need chauvinistic assholes like you to help me. Whatever, let's go." She made her way off, completely ignoring Stein's shocked response.

A while later Stein caught up with her. "You do realize that we need to gear up before going on an adventure, right? I have no sword and...I don't even know what weapons you use. And we have no money."

"Let's raid my parents' shop then." Alba pointed down the street. "They''re a few blocks that way."

"Yes, let's...wait, why don't we just raid the shop for money then!?"

Alba sighed and pulled Stein by the ear, bringing his face incredibly close to hers. "Because, they keep their money in our house, not the shop." She was whispering in his ear, making sure no one else could hear. "Do you think they'd let someone just waltz in and rob the place? Plus, they're not gonna notice some weapons missing."

She let Stein go, scoffing as he rubbed his beet-red face.

/

Down at the shop, Alba rudely kicked the door open with a resounding crash and strolled in like she owned it...which she technically did. "My parents aren't here, let's make it quick."

"Your parents are never here..." Stein made his way inside, nervously looking around. The place was still a disheveled mess with product stuffed everywhere, order being non-existent. The mess his entrance had caused earlier was still evident.

"That's a good thing." Alba carefully maneuvered over the piles of junk. "Weapons are in the back. Get moving!"

"Fine..." Stein followed her into the back of the store, which housed a massive variety of weapons—Alba's dad, according to her, was a rather big weapons enthusiast. Spears, swords, axes, warhammers, guns, and more adorned the walls, all impeccably cared for, gleaming in the ceiling light. The contrast between the front and back was rather shocking.

"...I feel like I've stepped into a whole different store."

"My dad's a nut about this shit. "Alba ignored Stein's "how convenient..." and began to walk around perusing the weapons, though without much care for safety.

"Well, I use sword—DON'T TOUCH THAT!" He yelled in response to seeing Alba handle a spear by the _blade_. "You should never touch a spear by the blade! You can cut yourself!"

"Man, does it really matter?" Alba put the spear down with a pouty face. "This is Neptunia, where no one gets seriously injured anyway."

"Maybe for main characters..." Stein began to look around for something like the spatha he originally used. He couldn't get anything quite like good old Gladius, but life sometimes wasn't fair. Once he saw where the swords were located, he spent a good 20 minutes carefully feeling and testing them—though Alba wasn't sure he actually knew how to pick a good one. To her, it just seemed like he was swinging them around like a hyperactive 10-year-old boy.

After testing them all, Stein laid them on the ground next to each other with utmost care. Then he sat down and began to intensely study them."After my testing, I like...this one." He picked up a spatha with an onyx blade that seemed to suck the light away from the surrounding area. The handle was an exquisite purple, and the pommel looked like it had an amethyst stone set in it. "Yeah, this one looks badass!"

Alba was rather bewildered—he had spent all this time testing them...to pick the coolest-looking one. "So, in the end...you didn't care if it was a good sword at all. You just wanted the coolest one...?"

"Of course! To an RPG hero, one must have an exquisitely cool sword! Performance means nothing compared to looks!" Stein held it up high, the pommel's stone shining brightly.

Alba's face was contorted into pure incredulity, hr eye twitching in disbelief. "You're not the main character, and that 'amethyst' is a cheap 10-credit fake."

"Who cares? It's all about looks!" Stein brought the spatha down hard and swung it around like an idiot. "Why do you think people buy counterfeit purses? It's all about how it looks to other people!" He ended his demonstration by sheathing it with a sharp noise.

"...Whatever." Alba looked around, trying to see what she could possibly use. She didn't know much about weapons, but wanted something kind of small and easily-hidden. She felt like she was more of a 'fragile speedster', so to speak. The knives section caught her eye...but knives were so mainstream. Then her eyes landed on two bizarre weapons lying on the bottom of the small arms wall. There was nothing else like them—they looked like two small swords with prongs at the guard... "What are those?" She asked, pointing to them.

Stein went over and pulled them off the wall. "These? These are sais, basically small batons with prongs. They're a rare weapon." He twirled them around in his hand, but he clearly was inexperienced with them, as they flew out of his grip and clanged on the floor. "I'm not used to them. Your dad is really serious about weapons to have some."

"I...think they're kind of cool." Alba almost felt ashamed admitting that something was 'cool'. Such a childish word...

Stein laughed a little. "Well, you actually like things after all. But, I can see why. You can spin 'em around your hands and they work well for disarming and defensive maneuvers. But they're short, too. They're great for fighting humans, but monsters...you have to get in real close."

"I don't care. I'm fast...I think..." Alba looked serious for once and scooped them off of the ground. They were a light blue, their handles covered in white leather. They felt like they were from Lowee, giving off a freezing chill, as if they were made of ice. She tried to spin one in her hand, but it flew out quickly. She then spent nearly 10 minutes trying to spin them correctly and failing.

After what must have been her 50th try, she stopped in frustration. "Man, these things are hard to use."

"Well...you're don't actually fight with them by spinning them..."

"Huh!" The sais fell to the ground as Alba gawked at him increduously. "What? I spent 10 minutes trying to spin them!"

"Well..." Stein rubbed the back of his violet hair in embarrassment and smiled awkwardly. "You fight with them by holding them and striking. You can spin them so you grab the long shaft and then thrust the handle into the enemy...but that's all I know. You don't spin them all the time..."

"I'm so gonna kill you!"

/

The two of them spent another hour while Stein taught Alba some basics of fighting. Amazingly, he was actually halfway decent, at least to Alba's neophyte eyes. While Alba's odd weapon choice restricted the amount of things he could teach, he still spent a decent amount of time priming her on Weapon Fighting 101.

"That's barely the beginning...but the best way is getting experience from actually fighting!"

Alba hung the sais off a belt she had found. "Well, I'm amazed...but you might not be a complete and total loser."

Of course, Stein completely overreacted to her minor compliments. "Well, I must say, you're perfectly free to enter my inn roo-"

"Never mind, you're still a loser." Alba strolled past a despairing Stein without even batting a muscle.

/

_Somewhere else..._

The town's guild was at the outskirts, a rather small building with only two floors. Inside lied a message board with various quests and several pieces of quite utilitarian furniture for adventurers to sit and chat on before leaving. The place wasn't completely sterile, but it was most definitely not a lounge.

IF and Compa had stopped by right before leaving the town. The two of them were enjoying a small cup of tea to steel themselves for the frozen wasteland beyond. Almost no one else was there, so it was kind of an intimate time.

"Those two, I wonder what happened to them?" Compa asked while delicately taking a minor sip.

IF hadn't even started on hers. "I don't know, and it honestly doesn't matter much. What they do is their business." She shifted on her uncomfortable seat, trying to get a better position. "Man, these guys need to buy new furniture..."

Compa set down her cup on onto the nearby glass table. "But you had told that girl that she should become an adventurer if she really wanted. What if they show up?"

"That's their prerogative.. It's not like we'll meet on a quest any time soon. Our skill levels are way too different." IF finally took one small sip of tea-the taste wasn't very agreeable to her, however. "Ugh, you like this a lot more than I do..."

Right as she set her cup down, Alba and Stein walked in, arguing over something as they were wont to do.

"Stein, what I'm saying is that you can't get it up-" Upon seeing Compa, Alba dropped the argument waved happily to her. "Oh, hello, Compa, was it?" She was wearing a much shorter dress than usual, but still light blue. Her outfit had a more rugged appearance thanks to a leather belt slung across her left shoulder adorned with pockets. The two sais hung off of her waist on a second belt worn normally.

Stein quickly walked in behind her in frustration at whatever they had been arguing about. "Dammit, Alba..." He quickly ignored her and the other two girls, instead making his way for the message board, intently checking each quest's details.

Alba on the other hand made her way over to the other two girls, greeting them enthusiastically. "Hey, you two! Glad to be among my own kind again." She fell into a nearby chair with little grace.

"Girls?" IF asked while picking up her cup again; she might not have liked the taste, but warming herself was top priority in this freezing landmass.

"No, just normal people in general." Alba completely ignored Stein's passioned "I'M PERFECTLY NORMAL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" while pulling out her sais and admiring them. Secretly, she had hoped IF would ask about them.

IF's eyes widened when she saw the ice-blue weapons. "Are those sais?"

"Yeah..." Alba proudly threw them in the air, with a flick of her wrist to spin them, catching them on the way down. "You know about them?"

IF nodded enthusiastically. "I use a weapon that's kind of similar, called a Khatar." She quickly reached into her oversized jacket and pulled out two weapons that looked like massive daggers, but with handles that allowed the user to grab onto them. They were blue much like her jacket. "It's not quite the same, however."

"Huh, even my dad-he's a weapon nut-doesn't have any of those." Alba walked over and looked at the two daggers. "I bet he'd love to see them." She then directed her eyes towards Compa, interested in her killing implement of choice. "So, Compa, what's your monster killer of choice?"

Compa jumped up and proceeded to procure a **giant** syringe nearly as tall as her quite literally from hammerspace. IF, of course, was completely unfazed, but Alba recoiled back in shock, tripping over a table and crashing into the ground with a thwack. "It's this trusty syringe!"

"My CPU!" Alba stared at the massive implement, horrified. "That's not even a weapon! And it's ridiculously gigantic!"

"Well, it isn't much of a weapon, but I'm a nurse, so it fits, doesn't it? Especially since I load it up with poison and inject it into monsters!"

"Are you a nurse or a murderer?!" Alba continued to stare at the syringe like it was going to stab her to death any minute. "I-I ha-hate ne-ne-needles..White Heart, s-save me...

Compa rocked her syringe back and forth like a baby. "It's not actually a needle, though! It's a syringe!"

"THEY'RE THE SAME THING!" Alba got off the ground solely to get _away_ from it. "They stab people and they're BAD BAD BAD" Cold sweat was pouring down her face in beads, her eye twitching in fear.

"Really, it doesn't hurt that much." Compa serenely walked towards Alba, rocking the syringe.

"nonononononNONONONO"

Stein all of a sudden walked between the two girls when Compa was nearly in stabbing distance. "Alright, girls, calm down and practice your weird sex role-play later."

"Aw..." Compa frowned, still pointing the syringe towards a sweating Alba. "I wasn't going to really stab her. Just break the skin a little." Her heavenly voice was freaking Alba out to the max, who was now backed up against a wall and fervently thanking Stein for once in her life.

"Thanks...Stein...oh CPU, thanks!" Alba, once she saw that the coast was clear, hid behind Stein, poking out before recoiling from seeing the syringe. "I can't believe I'm saying this..."

"Well," Stein boasted proudly, puffing his chest out. "You're always free to depend on me-"

"Whatever, I'm fine now!" Alba strolled nonchalantly over to the message board, letting Stein's dreams be crushed once more. "Jeez, there sure a lot of quests."

"I...I...found one..." Stein could barely function after that instant rejection. He just looked at his twitching hands, wondering where he could've possibly gone wrong. His own pathetic-ness never crossed his brain.

"What is it?" Alba perused all the quests, interested in their contents. Obviously, many were way too difficult for Stein and her. Some required traveling to other landmasses, and a few even in the Ultra dimension. A few didn't even require combat, though they didn't pay much either...

Sighing to regain his composure, Stein finally returned to normal. "Ugh, there's one on the far right of the board. 'Warriors Needed for Recovering Prototype!' it should say."

Alba searched the board for that one. It was signed by an anonymous person-on the little note explaining the quest, it said:

**My latest invention is nearly complete, but while testing it I lost it in a small Lowee forest. I would've gotten it myself, but I didn't have the time. I need it as soon as possible! Meet me out before this Lowee forest!**

**Rank: E**

**Reward: 6,000 C and maybe some other stuff too, depends on ho****w**** well you do!**

Alba rubbed her eyes in shock. "6,000C!? For a simple rank E quest? That's fishy..."

"Who cares?!" Stein angrily snatched the note from her hand. "One quest and I have money to get a room and some extra spending money."

Alba promptly returned the favor. "Extra spending money?! I'm taking a cut too!"

Stein snatched it _again_ from her. "What? You have a shop!

The childish back-and-forth continued for a while...but in the end, they decided to take the quest.

/

_Somewhere in Planeptune..._

Not many people asked Nepgear where she was going in Planeptune's main city. She quickly dove in between the various skyscrapers and streets, avoiding contact with most normal people. The city was massive, but of course she knew it like the back of her hand. Being involved with high-level governmental stuff, she was aware of many places that the average citizen wouldn't know.

The city was bustling at a time like this, roaring with crowds of people using the sidewalk and throngs of cars trying to get home from work. In here, a rather simple girl like Nepgear could easily blend in, even taking her Candidate status into account. She deftly maneuvered through the crowds, politely pushing people aside, until she could fit into an alleyway between two massive skyscrapers casting shadows over much of the city.

The alleyway didn't look like much, being covered in trash and other detritus. An overflowing garbage can was lying on its side, flies swarming around it. The stench was rather putrid and Nepgear quickly made a beeline for a door embedded into the walls. It was a simple metal door locked from the inside-or so it seemed to normal outsiders. A small fingerprint sensor was located on the handle, and it quickly beeped when she grabbed it. The locks inside the door started groaning, clearly being rarely used, and it slid open very slowly with a grinding noise.

Inside, was an elevator. She boarded it and pushed to go down 20 floors.

When the elevator had finally reached its destination, Nepgear exited into PTEL, or Planeptune Theoretical Experiments Laboratory. The inside was a complete contrast to the dirty alleyway she had been in. PTEL was slick and clean, formed of clean metal with a soft purple glow everywhere giving it an truly sci-fi feel. Planeptune was clearly ahead the other landmasses in technology, and it showed, as assistants were scurrying back and forth, carrying equipment, tests, papers, and other related materials. On a nearby table, a few scientists were poring over the latest results from an experiment on a computer. Right beside them, two were casually discussing theoretical physics. All of them, however, bowed as soon as Nepgear walked inside. A harmonious greeting of "Hello, Lady Nepgear...". One of them, a young woman with short silver hair noticed Nepgear and greeted her with a bow. "Lady Nepgear, it is an honor to meet you."

"Hello." Nepgear kindly reciprocated; then her face got serious. "I'm here to see Professor Inumaru. He requested that I come."

"Ah, yes, he's in the back, follow me..." The assistant led Nepgear past the whirring computers and test tables to the back of the lab, to an office near the back. Along the way, Nepgear passed by what looked like a high-tech suit of armor, which she hadn't seen before. She didn't much of a look at it however, as an assistant moved it out of the way.

The office at the back was a stark contrast compared to the rest of the lab. It was a cozy, carpeted place with a lacquered wood desk, various paintings from famous Planeptune artists on the wall, and a bookshelf covered in scientific magazines and books. Behind the desk lied a man-Professor Jubei Inumaru. He was a tall, commanding sort of guy who exuded an aura of pure attention-which was rather impressive, given that he looked like a girl almost, with long dark blue hair running down his back and a womanly frame. He was the epitome of what they called "bishonen". He reminded Nepgear of a woman she and Neptune knew, called Rei Ryghts, as the two almost looked like they could've been related, but when she had asked about any possible relation, Inumaru had merely said the resemblance was only skin deep.

Inumaru was enjoying a cup of coffee when Nepgear was led in, but he quickly put it down when he saw her. "Ah, hello Lady Nepgear." He rose from his seat and gave her a dignified bow. "I'm glad you could come. Please, sit down."

Nepgear slid into the seat lying before the desk while the assistant left. "Why did you call me, Professor Inumaru?"

"Please, call me 'Jubei'. 'Professor Inumaru' is so formal."

"We're in a formal situation, aren't we?"

Jubei sat down and returned to his steaming coffee. "Yes, well, let's move on shall we?" He cleared his throat and took a large swig of coffee, the steaming liquid giving him the energy to continue. "I've come to ask about funding for my project."

Nepgear looked annoyed and gave him a long, discerning look. "We've already given you a lot of funding. Planeptune is ahead of the other landmasses by a massive amount when it comes to hard sciences, and you're a household name in half of Gamindustri. What else do you need?"

"Well, research and development for Project Dreamcast is going well, but it could be faster if you could convince your sister to allocate more funding towards it." Jubei reached into his desk and pulled out a folder stuffed with papers. "You're a technological genius. It's thanks to your clout that Planeptune has such a good science department." He adjusted his glasses while handing Nepgear the folder.

Nepgear took the papers and speedily flipped through them to get the gist. "This 'Project Dreamcast' of yours has been going on for five years. I don't even know what it is, but I trusted you thanks to your previous successes-" Her gaze drifted over to various plaques lying on his bookshelf. Mainly of them were awards for Jubei's research. He had also taken the time to frame magazine articles praising his work from places as far as Lowee or the Ultradimension. One said "Prof. Inumaru: Planeptune's Finest Scientist, Claims to Have Found God Particle"; another "Prof. Inumaru Says Lifelike and Fully-Functional Prosthetics Coming in Less Than 5 Years". Such a long list of accolades had kept Jubei on Nepgear's good side. "But I'm starting to wonder just what this project is."

Jubei stared long and hard at his coffee. Nepgear normally wasn't this forceful, but when it came to the science department... "Look, it's nothing bad-"

"Neptune and I can cut your funding in an instant and throw you out on the street if you're doing something malfeasant." Nepgear angrily commented, though in an authoritative tone.

"Tch!" Jubei slammed his fist on the desk, causing several pens to roll off. Dammit! She had him good. Truth to be told, she always pulled that one when his research started getting interesting. Here he was, a grown man, endlessly having to obsequiously obey a girl who looked like she was barely out of middle school, just so he could get funding. He had no chance anywhere else-even if Leanbox, Lastation, or Lowee wanted him, they didn't have the high-tech infrastructure his research focused on. Putting it up would cost too much, so he'd be screwed out of a job. "That's what you always say...right when the research is leading us to new unexplored heights."

Nepgear had barely flinched from his outburst. Normally, she would've been freaked out, but she was so used to seeing Jubei fly off the handle from her demands. It was almost cute. "Maybe that's because you tend to act more 'mad scientist' than 'scientist'. Your sheer genius is one of the reasons we keep you at all."

Jubei set down his coffee, his hand twitching in anger. "It's called Project Dreamcast, but the real name I'm using is 'ACES'-Artificial CPU ExoSkeleton."

"Artificial CPU ExoSkeleton...what exactly are you trying to do!?"

Jubei slowly adjusted his glasses and took the folder back. "It's powered armor. It's designed to give a normal human power equivalent to you CPUs when you've gone HDD. It's...just the prototype, though. It only gives one about 70% of the power...and the artificial musculature costs as much as a house for one arm...and the battery dies within five minutes...but I'm working on it! I just need some more money to perfect the design!"

"That's what you've been making? But...why?" Nepgear looked at him, confused. What possible use could there be for powered armor like that?

"It's a personal reason. But there's also no reason why you CPUs get to have such power while us normal people don't...it's not exactly fair."

Nepgear sighed. "But my sister and the others-I'm only a Candidate you know-they're goddesses. Of course we get that kind of power!"

"That's no excuse for the sheer disparity! Even ignoring the military application of the ACES, just think about the medical industry! The artificial musculature used in ACES could be used to build prosthetics exactly as function as real limbs. If you get dismembered in an accident, they could give you an artificial limb that works just like the real one, maybe even better! We'd cure blindness and deafness overnight!"

"That...is a good reason for the research, but knowing you, I'm not sure I can trust you with it..." Neptune rubbed her chin in contemplation, trying to see how to make the situation move smoothly. "...If you can give us a working prototype by the time of Lastation Technology Expo happening in two months, then maybe we can think about it. The other Goddesses-Noire, Vert, Blanc, Plutia-they'll be there too. Along with their Candidates." Nepgear rose as she finished, eager to leave.

"...I can possibly do that." Jubei crossed his hands and slumped down in his chair before realizing he was doing the Gendou Pose, and straightened his body in response.

"Bye, Professor Inumaru." Nepgear proceeded to leave elegantly, her lilac hear fluttering as she closed the door.

Jubei calmly sat at his desk, glancing at the folder. "Dammit...I can't believe I have kowtow endlessly to a girl as young as her. If only...I need to test the ACES in combat with an actual CPU...but attacking one of the goddesses would be horrible form..."

"My Research" flashed around in his head alongside "My Country".

He had to pick one in two months.

"Well, in the meanwhile, where the hell did Momiji go? Dammit, don't tell me she ran off to Lowee again...I bet she lost something in the forests there. She _always _does when she's in that frozen shithole..."

/

Several hours later, Alba and Stein had left the guild and made their way to the forest given to them once they had accepted the quest. The freezing cold ensured that they were remarkably tranquil during the trip. Though, they had to admit the snowy landscape, pure white and gleaming with snow-capped mountains standing astutely in the distance, was rather nice.

They met their quest giver at the base of a nearby mountain-the walk was only about an hour. The person was a girl, about Alba's age, slightly taller than her but still short compared to Stein. She greeted them with a big smile, waving excitedly to beckon them closer, her single large braid of hair swinging along with her.

Waving to show that they could see her, Stein and Alba approached her at the mouth of the forest. Seeing inside was nearly impossible thanks to the immense density of trees. Going off the beaten path was not much of an option. The girl gazed at them like they were her personal saviors.

"My name is Momiji." The girl was wearing a thick hoodie built for traveling in the snow, with the hood put down. The overall design heavily resembled the hoodie of the goddess Neptune, except black-Stein figured it was a piece of replica merchandise.

Stein also noticed that Momiji had quite large breasts, but such information was _hopefully_ pointless.

"Hi, I'm Alba, and this idiot over here is Stein." Alba shook Momiji's hand enthusiastically, though she was honestly somewhat nervous...

"'Idiot'? Oh, that's really funny!" Momiji laughed in such an innocent way that Alba honestly felt a little bad for the insult.

Stein watched her closely, marveling at her laugh. "How...is this what they call moe?"

Alba slammed him in the gut with a sai. "Fat chance." She then resumed talking to Momiji, acitng oblivious to Stein crumpling over and clutching his chest. "What's the problem?"

"It's really bad..." Momiji fidgeted in worry. "I was getting away from my brother to relax in Lowee, but I lost something I had made. It was a cell phone."

"You made a whole cell-phone by yourself?" Alba looked genuinely surprised. "Pretty cool..."

Stein had finally managed to pick himself up off the ground in pain. "How-oof...-are we gonna find a small cell phone in that massive forest?"

Momiji beamed brightly and clapped her hands together in excitement. "Well, I have a special device that tracks it. I'll give it to you." She produced a small device the size of a hand, with a screen on it. The screen was set to a map of the area with a dot showing their current location beeping intermittently.

"So we just go in and get this...two questions." Alba grabbed the device and stuffed into one of her belt pockets. "First, why can't you get it yourself? And second, what can we expect to get from this?"

Momiji said nothing but reached into her pockets to pull out two reflective black cards shining in the sunlight. "I said that I'd give you 6000 C, but I'll throw these in. They're passes to the Lastation Technology Expo. It's happening in two months. These'll give you VIP access." She crammed them back into her pockets. "I happened to swipe a few before going off to Lowee."

The LTE-Alba's parents had gone to that a few times before, but not with her. Now she could have a chance to go-plus they gave her an excuse to get the hell out of Lowee. "Fine, I'll take them. I wanna get out of here anyway. Stein?"

"I'm fine with traveling, as long as I can get blasted and cruise for chicks!" Stein fist-bumped the air-it didn't seem eager to reciprocate.

Alba shook her head in exasperation. "Just ignore everything he says, it's hazardous for your health. Now, about my other question?"

"Well..." Momiji sheepishly rubbed her head, chuckling nervously. "I'm not very good by myself. But I can come with you and help. I make some weapons on the side."

Right as she said this, a circular landmine

Then another one fell.

Then a _flood_ of homemade explosives came cascading out of her hoodie like a portal to a weapons depot. Stein and Alba intently stared, wide-eyed, as what appeared to be an an entire army's worth of explosives fell in a rising pile of stuff, eventually creating a ring all around Momiji's feet coming up to her knees.

"Ehhehe...heh."

Alba and Stein couldn't say anything in response. They seemed frozen in time, gawking at the all the weapons.

"My brother's a scientist-one of his latest inventions, it's, well...a way of storing tons of items in one small place."

Smacking herself in the head to reboot, Alba managed to tear her eyes away from the explosives and gawk at _Momiji_ instead. "I-I don't care about the way you're keeping them in there, I wanna know WHY you have them in the first place!"

"Well, I like watching things explode, I guess." Momiji shrugged as she began to scoop up the weapons and stuff them down her hoodie. "And explosives are great because they're not bloody like guns, so this can remain rated T!"

"First..." Alba stopped just to steel herself with a prolonged breath. "We're not even in a video game, and second, it's already rated M!"

"Thanks to yours truly, Stei-"

"SHUT UP! Let's...let's just go inside the forest and get this thing." Alba began to walk down the only cut-out path before turning to face the others. "And I swear if you blow me up or if you hit me with your sword..." Her tone was enough to make the other two sweat profusely as they followed her, though Stein did wonder who exactly made Alba leader.

/

The way into the forest was dark and badly-kept, but it was still traversable. Alba stayed ahead (the slender pathway forced the trio to walk in a direct line), carefully observing the tracking device. She felt at home in the forests of Lowee, having played in them frequently when she was young; though she had never gone into one this far away from home. A feeling of both excitement and apprehension filled her, and she nearly dropped the tracking device.

...Speaking of which, there was only one pathway into this forest. This was a rather easy job for 6000C. When she voiced this concern to Momiji, she shrugged and mentioned something about a "rich brother".

"Ignoring the monetary issues-why did you lose this phone in the first place? And why didn't you just go back and pick it up?" Alba stopped for a second to check the device. They were less than 100 feet from the phone, the thick brush all around them, predetermining their way. "There's only one way into this forest. You couldn't get lost."

"Well...there's this..._thing_ out there." Momiji twiddled her thumbs.

"What?!" Alba stomped over in a rage and nearly choked her; Momiji quickly broke free, gasping for air. "You neglected to tell us this until _now_!?"

"Sheesh, it's not that bad! Just not something one person should take on." Coughing a little, Momiji stared daggers at Alba. The tension in the air between the two girls was so thick Stein retreated a little as they glared murderously at each other.

"You two girls are too much..."

The two quickly returned to the mission, though not without silently agreeing to settle the score later. Alba scoffed at Momiji's odd airheadedness. _Surely_ she could've told them before hand they were fighting something. Even if she had expected it, Alba would rather have been prepared than caught off guard.

In an attempt to clear her mind, she checked the tracking device-it showed that they were...right in front of the phone. The pathway suddenly opened up into a large circular area, the trees having been cleared for whatever reason. The phone, however, was nowhere to be seen; Alba chalked that up to its presumed small size. The frigid air was stagnant, almost frozen itself in the cold. Nothing else seemed to be in the area., though the trees above shook and rustled unnervingly, as if something was in them...

Alba smirked. "How convenient. Big ol' area for us to find this thing in."

Stein came up behind her and peered over her shoulder. "It's here?"

"That's that the tracking device said." Alba motioned towards Momiji. "You sure you lost it in here?"

Momiji nodded eagerly, pointing to the middle of the circular area. "Yeah, I did."

"I don't see it though." Alba checked the tracking device.

It stated that the phone was..._directly_ above her.

The tangled brush above her head rustled slightly.

Alba swung around. That was all that could be said about the action. It was devoid of needing extraneous adjectives or flowery description. It was the essence of swinging around, done by a girl who knew that some terrible thing was about to claw at her head.

Gripping her sais out of reflex, she brought them up and slammed something soft and furry. The impact sent her into the ground. She was barely able to see anything but a icy blur as Stein shot forward with surprising vigor and punched said blur hard, sending it flying out of her vision.

"You okay!?" Stein grabbed Alba's hand and effortlessly hoisted her to her feet.

"I'm fine!" Alba dusted herself off and then whirled around to see her attacker. It was a wolf, with fur the color and shine of pure ice. About the size of a human, it snarled at her, enough to make her second-guess fighting it-but then she remembered that she really didn't have a choice. Everything seemed in slow motion, each second feeling like a minute. Her knuckles were turning white from clenching her sais as hard as she could.

Momiji bolted up to her, pulling a makeshift grenade out. "That's what attacked me. It's an Winter Wolf, you normally only see them in roguelikes and things like that." The air around the wolf rose up in a raging typhoon, buffeting the trio fiercely.

Stein unsheathed his sword with a massive **SHING! **and dashed to the front of the group. He seemed like an entirely different person from before-Alba could barely tell it was the same drunken idiot she had met less than a day ago. "Alba, stay with me! Momiji, support us from behind!" He shot a glance at Alba, his face in a wicked grin of delight.

"So, girls, ready for your first boss battle?"


	3. Chapter 3: Lupus Gelus

A Drunkard's Lost Sword

Chapter 3: Lupus Gelus

Oh look, I have a cover for this story now! The image editor is surprisingly easy to use on this site. The cover has some slight references to things that happen later on in the story, so hold onto your pants.

In other news, that title up there means "Wolf of Frost/Chill" in Latin.

You might notice that the fight in here is pretty brutal at times. That's just how the fights in this fic will be like, including when canon characters get involved. It's my style.

/

The wolf stood before the three, snarling with vicious intent. In a flash, it bolted for Stein, who countered with a lightning-fast swing of his sword. The wolf flew off to the side, whimpering a tiny bit, but it quickly rose.

"Hah, I haven't fought in a while." Stein congratulated himself while rubbing his sword. "This thing should be a piece of cake-"

The wolf, clearly not appreciative of the insult, opened its mouth, shooting to a massive ray of pure frost at him. The blast impacted him right in the chest, sending him flying off-balance and nearly into a tree. "Augh! Damn wolf!"

Alba was too frozen to respond to any of this. The actual feeling of combat had completely overwhelmed her. The sense of actually _being_ in a situation where one must fight to survive, as opposed to merely reading or thinking about it, was truly something else. Shaking her head a little to regain her senses, she held up her sais with a new kind of resolve. "What's the matter, Stein? One wolf too much for you?"

"Shut up!" Stein gripped his sword tightly, nearly breaking the handle with sheer force. "Cover me while I go for a swing at its head!" The wolf lunged again, but Stein expertly dodged it, barely missing as it barreled into a tree, snapping it with a resounding **CRACK **though it barely affected the violent canine. "Damn that was close...anyway, Momiji-" The girl, who had been stunned like Alba, took a slight second to respond. "Momiji, try to keep it occupied!"

Momiji looked at the wolf, her legs trembling at how it had barely reacted to breaking a tree with its head. Alba laid a hand on her shoulder, calming her. "We can do this...if we work together". Momiji and her exchanged looks for what seemed like an eternity, but was only a second.

"I...I got it!" Momiji dove her hand into her hoodie and pulled out several small round objects, each with a red circle at the top. The wolf made another beeline for Stein, lunging with incredible force. "Stein, jump away while I throw these!" He did as told, and Momiji hurled the small objects at the wolf. A massive array of explosions rocked the area, the resulting pressure wave blowing snow and smoke into the air like a massive vortex. Momiji's smile was as wide as could be. "Hah, some of my homemade explosives!"

Alba was honestly somewhat terrified of what Momiji might do when angry, but she decided to deal with that another time. The snow everywhere allowed her a chance to get in. Saying a prayer to White Heart, she lunged into the endless cloud and swung her sais, flipping them through her hands for maximum force. The impacted an object with a tremendous thwack, but she couldn't see what she hit. Hoping for the best, she pulled back to line up for another lunge, but her left sai was stuck in something...

A cold swear slid down her forehead. When the smoke cleared, her fears were confirmed: the wolf, though injured by the explosions, was still standing-and biting down onto her left sai. The creature's mouth was less than 2 feet from shredding her hand to pieces. In a reflexive panic, she struggled to free it, pulling back with as much force as possible.

Stein, on the sidelines, yelled to her. "Alba! Sais can break things that are caught in them!" He began to run up to her to offer assistance.

Alba heard the words, and, miraculously, took them to heart. The wolf terrified her-but it could work. With a scared gulp, she twisted her sai in the wolf's mouth. Amazingly, it worked: the sai shattered the ice-like teeth with a glassy crash. The wolf recoiled in pain, whimpering, right as Stein dashed in, hoisting his sword above his head like an executioner. With incredible force, he brought it down into the wolf's head, tearing a bloody gash into it, sending the wolf into the ground with enough force to crack the frost-bound earth, blood oozing from the wound.

Alba had no time to be impressed by Stein's attack; she quickly thanked him silently and brought down her sais onto the wolf. However, her strike was amateurish, and instead of hitting it, she tripped on a rock and slammed into Stein, downing both of them. She, particularly unlucky, hit the ground head-first-the painful impact messed with her senses, leaving her disoriented while her head throbbed in immense pain.

Regardless of her pain, however, she had to continue. She muttered a silent curse under her breath while gasping for air and swung around to get back up. She noticed that a shadow had suddenly come over her.

The wolf had jumped right onto her. Her eyes locked with its, their faces so close she could see the frost coming from its mouth. A horrible feeling came over her. It invaded every bit of her body, crawling over her like a slimy tentacle. It was the feeling one gets when they are honestly about to die. A feeling that takes over one's body, the sheer adrenaline making the impossible briefly attainable while the survival instinct does anything it can to keep oneself alive.

Everything seemed to be in slow motion. With a violent stabbing motion, she raised her sai and jammed it straight into the wolf. Normally, her strength wouldn't be enough to do much more than bruise it-but the sheer adrenaline allowed her to slam it with such force she threw it off of her. In barely a second, she had freed herself of its deathly embrace.

Gasping for air as time appeared to speed up again, Alba rose to her feet, gripping her head. The throbbing pain had disappeared when during her adrenaline high, but now it came back in full force, and worse. A warm wetness covered her hand-when she pulled it away to look, it was covered in blood. "I must've suffered a concussion..."

"We'll deal with that later!" Alba was surprised at first-the adrenaline high had made her forget about the other two. Stein ran over to her and checked her head. "You're hurt a little, but it should be fine."

"That damn wolf..." Alba gripped her sais so hard her knuckles turned white. "I'll tear that thing into pieces!" She lunged forward, ignoring Stein's protests, coming in with her sais spinning, thrusting them into the wolf with such speed it seemed like she was part of the wind itself as snow sprang up in her wake, like a plane leaving turbulence. The wolf recoiled from such a hit, being thrown into the air and skidding across the ground. The incredible strength on display tired Alba out, though, leaving her gasping her breath, clutching her chest in pain as her lungs desperately searched for air. Momiji ran over to her, helping her stand.

Momiji panicked as she checked Alba's health. "Are you okay? You don't look too good..."

"I"m fine." Alba threw her off. Her skirt was torn and dirtied. "You haven't done much, you know."

"I'm-" Momiji couldn't finish as the wolf lunged for both of them, but it was weaker this time, showing that their attacks were doing _something_. In a reflexive attack, she reached into her hoodie and threw several more of her explosive balls. The explosions sent both girls flying backwards painfully, but they also got the wolf off of them.

Alba had raised her hands instinctively to guard her face as they were sent back, the force scouring her arms. "Dammit, you could've killed us!" Her skirt was now torn in several places, black with soot in some places and covered in dirt in the other. Her arms were covered in minor bloody cuts oozing, though she felt surprisingly little pain. Momiji was not much better off.

"I had to do something!" Momiji scoffed at her scornful words. "It was either that or get eaten!"

"Girls, we really should be focused on fighting this thing, not arguing!" Stein rushed ahead, sword in hand, for a few quick swings on the wolf. The chilling beast replied in turn, countering every swing with careful dodges and counterattacks of its own. The girls watched, spellbound, as Stein proceeded to dodge and counterattack in turn. For all of his idiotic tomfoolery, Stein was clearly an experienced swordsman in battle, expertly ducking, swaying, and jumping to avoid the wolf's many attacks. His endless swings were clearly doing something, as the wolf's attacks were slowing down and becoming more erratic.

Gasping for air, Stein held his sword for one final swing, but the wolf, desperate at this point, opened its mouth and blasted him with a massive ray of pure frost. Unable to dodge, Stein was hit right in the chest, freezing it and his right arm in a giant glacier. He struggled to get free, but the ice was too strong. His sword was in his left hand, but the ice made moving impossible if only from the sheer weight "Ugh, girls...could use a little help here!"

Alba whipped out her sais again and motioned to Momiji. "Let's finish this for good! Let's get up high!" Momiji followed her lead, quickly running to one of the trees at the edge of the arena. Alba continued "briefing" while they quickly climbed it. "On my mark, throw something down at it. I'll come in through the smoke and take this thing out for good!" Both of them had reached the branches overhead-a sheer thrill ran through Alba, the thrill of adventure. Here she was, fighting a wolf like her life depended on it. The feeling was odd, but exhilarating. She could tell that a wide grin decorated her face, despite the cold, despite her throbbing head, despite her painful chest wounds-this was adventure. She now knew why people would willingly leave their homes, knowing that their lives could end any second. With a strengthened resolve, she gripped her sais.

Momiji nodded enthusiastically and proceeded to pull from her hoodie, violating all sense of physics and sanity, a _rocket-propelled grenade launcher_. "I'll use this!"

"Where the hell did you get that thing!?" Alba viewed the massive tube-shaped weapon, painted a dark purple, a missile with a drawn "^_^" face on it loaded into the chamber, like it was some kind of alien lifeform.

"I kept it in my hoodie, just in case I get into confrontations like this!"" Momiji happily explained while ignoring Alba's "how convenient..." She hefted the massive weapon, keeping her balance against all odds, and pointed it directly at the wolf, looking into a small viewfinder on it. Both her Alba began to count down: "Locking on in 3...2...1...FIRE!"

She gladly squeezed the trigger and the rocket shot out in a torrent of smoke, speeding down and quickly slamming into the ground near the wolf. The explosion's wave buffeted the two girls, but Alba took advantage of this and jumped off of the branch with her sais outstretched. The jump wasn't perfect, but it did suffice, and she barreled through the smoky cloud locked on to the wolf. "TAKE THIS YOU DAMN WOLF!" When she felt like she was close enough, she unleashed a massive swing that carved through the smoke. Something impacted her sai so hard the smoke was blown away. The wolf had fainted from the hit, finally succumbing to the various wounds inflicted on it. Alba awkwardly flew over, pivoting of the sai that hit. In an instant she brought her hands up to protect her face as she slammed into the ground and skidded several meters on the snow before finally resting.

Stein managed to finally crack the ice, weakened by the rocket's blast wave, by slamming his sword into it and ran over to her. "Hey, you okay!? I think that thing's done for...didn't kill it but that should shut it up for a while."

Alba panted heavily, her chest hurting from the impact. But a thrill washed over her, one that seemed to completely negate all of her pain. She had actually fought something and won. The sweet sense of victory made everything worth it. It was that euphoria that empowered her to rise to her feet. Her skirt was badly torn in several places, her shirt had gaping gashes in it, and blood was slowly running down her forehead, but she didn't care about that. She pumped her fist in the air like an athlete who had just received a gold medal. "Fuck _yeah_! I actually did it!"

She ran to Stein and hugged him tightly, sending the poor man into utter confusion. "Oh man, that was great, even if I hurt like crazy all over!"

Stein was so completely befuddled by Alba's behavior he quickly pushed her off and kept his distance. "Are you okay? You just...hugged me. The Alba I know doesn't hug people."

"Oh, come on. I was just happy." Alba stowed her sais and sighed, allowed to finally take a breath. "That'll be the only hug you're getting from me in a long time." She waved over to Momiji, who was coming down the tree and strolling over to them, a skip in her step.

"That was amazing, guys!" Her eyes were gleaming like diamonds. "You two are so cool! I wanna travel with you!" She dashed over to Stein and hugged him even tighter than Alba.

Stein appreciated the warmth. "A woman's embrace..."

"She's like 5 years younger than you, Stein." Alba scoffed.

"Oh shut up!" Stein pulled away and put on a serious face. "Now, let's get that phone. I guess that wolf ate it or something?"

"Well, yeah, but...give me the tracking device." Alba handed it to her. "It must have broke in the fight." She showed the two the screen. **NO SIGNAL** was flashing on and off.

Stein and Alba started to chuckle nervously, fear of losing payment manifesting as cold sweat. "Oh...sorry..." They both said in unison, blushing in embarrassment.

"Oh no, it's fine! I'll still pay you for being so cool!" Momiji pulled a wallet out of her hoodie and quickly pulled 6000 C from it. She gave it to Stein. Then she pulled out another 6000 C and gave it to a stunned Alba. "Here. I'll pay both of you the full reward because of how cool you were!" The two were stunned and didn't respond for a few seconds while she finally pulled out the LTE passes.

Alba quickly decided that money was money, though, and stuffed it into her pockets. "Well, 12,000 C is a lot of money..."

"It's fine." Momiji opened the wallet-it was stuffed with 1,000 C bills. Momiji must've had well over 500,000 C in there! Both Stein and Alba stared at it in complete awe, either of them never having seen more than 30,000 C at once. "My big bro's Jubei Inumaru, so we're kind of rich..." She chuckled awkwardly.

She didn't even need to explain who Jubei was-the two's eyes lit up like Christmas lights. Alba spoke first. "_The_ Jubei Inumaru!? The famous Planeptune scientist who discovered Quantum Share Theory and developed Sharology!? No wonder you're a complete frickin' genius!"

"I didn't know he had a sister." Stein tried to see the familial relation-they did share similar hair colot and were both rather tall and lithe.

"Yeah, well, he doesn't want me to become some super-celebrity or something. He wants me to just live a normal life, so I live in the outskirts of Planeptune, away from the hustle and bustle of the city! But I love to travel to other landmasses-he doesn't like it though, but I don't care what he thinks!" Momiji's face was in a mischievous smile.

"Amazing...so that's how you have VIP passes to the LTE!" Alba exclaimed while connecting the dots. "I should've wondered why you had them..."

"Of course, silly!" She bonked Alba on the head playfully, though the recipient didn't appreciate the resulting throbbing. "Let's go back to the town." She just seemed to have endless energy.

/

The walk back wasn't one of much conversation. The whole trio was tired, and even Momiji had to slow down after a while. It was slowly getting dark, the sun's rays casting delightfully over the mountains in a warm orange glow. By the time they had reached town, it was getting dark.

The trio quickly rented a room with Momiji footing the bill (the clerk was rather shocked at their...damaged attire, but money was money). It was a decent room, with a small TV and a connected bathroom, the walls painted a soothing blue, a fitting color as any for Lowee. However: there was only two beds.

"Two of us are gonna have to sleep together." Stein remarked as they entered for the first time.

Alba was quick to suggest a solution. "Well, it's definitely not gonna be you sleeping with either of us. Me and Momiji'll sleep together." Her tone made it more a fact than a suggestion. Neither of the other two dared to suggest anything different. Feeling satisfied, Alba collapsed onto one of the beds, finally able to relax. The soft, enveloping fabric was heavenly after walking in the freezing cold. "Thank White Heart we're back. I just wanna pass out."

Stein sat on the other bed, pouting a little at being denied female embrace once more. "Well, you should probably clean up before falling asleep. I should too..."

Alba sat up, feeling re-energized. "I guess so. I'll take a shower first. Momiji, make sure he doesn't do anything funny. Then you can take one and I'll make sure he doesn't do anything funny. Then Stein can take one."

"You really love bossing people around, don't you?" 

Regardless of Stein's comment, the trio proceeded to bathe in that order before finally collapsing into bed.

/

_In Lastation..._

Being CPU felt good.

Noire had the entire Lastation City skyline in her view from atop the central tower. Her room was completely circular, the entire wall a massive window. From it she could see every part of Lastation-from the cloud-reaching skyscrapers extending over in the east, to the industrial parks near them, spewing smoke and steam everywhere. She saw the nightlife section, with pulsating lights coming from its nightclubs and dance halls, in the west. Near the tower itself, in the center of the city, she could see the affluent district, where the rich could afford to keep above the smoke of the other areas.

Lastation was, under any normal viewpoint, utterly insane. The entire landmass was choked in endless factories black as night dotting the landscape like an infestation-though there was a certain mechanical charm to it. These factories worked endlessly, ensuring that Lastation ruled over all of the landmasses in raw good production-indeed, that was almost _all_ they produced, which they then traded for consumer goods from the other landmasses-consumer goods that were probably made with Lastation capital.

The central city was the most concentrated-stuffed with industrial plants, suburbs, and of course the main metropolis. The city was actually two layered on top of each other. The Upper City was where the rich and middle-class lived, free of the smoke and heat, capable of living their lives in relative peace.

The Lower City...the less Noire thought about it, the better.

She looked eastwards. Past her own landmass, Planeptune was floating aimlessly much like Lastation. Noire's face drew into a scowl. It wasn't that she hated Planeptune...though its CPU, Neptune, could try her patience endlessly. It was the upcoming Lastation Technology Expo.

"Fucking Neptune. She'll show up with that jackass Jubei and wow everyone again." Noire walked to the center of the room, where a cylindrical extrusion was standing. She opened a door on it and began to walk downstairs in a spiral through bright lights to her actual living quarters. No one was on the painfully-bright stairs. Noire shielded her eyes a little as she made her way down the tower.

The LTE came to her mind again. Planeptune always had the most impressive displays. Its sheer technological superiority ensured that no one could come close to toppling its reign. Especially not Lastation. Lastation was no where near it in scientific research-then again, neither were Lowee and Leanbox. No, Lastation's claim to fame was its capital production-its ability to produce raw goods. Noire smirked. No matter how good they were, Planeptune made almost nothing besides high-tech consumer goods. They needed to constantly import raw materials and low-tech consumer goods from Lastation. Lastation was_ mechanical_. It was a place of grinding gears and straining engines, a place of reliability, compared to Planeptune's uncertain microprocessors and integrated circuits. A hacker couldn't take down half of its infrastructure with a few keystrokes. Her mind fluttered back to the infamous attack on Planeptune roughly 30 years before, where one savvy hacker had taken down the entire infrastructure of the landmass. Boy, Neptune sure didn't act cheeky towards Noire, Vert, and Blanc then when they were shipping aid out while Planeptune fixed the systems...

She finally reached the end of the stairwell. Creaking the door open, she proceeded down long, massive hallways to reach her living quarters. The hallways of the central tower were designed as testaments to Lastation's perfection in the arts of metalworking and architecture. They were grand, imposing structures, that seemed to endlessly stretch to the sky, decorated with ancient royal insignias. They slowly seemed to swallow and utterly envelop a visitor, forcing them to look to the distant ceiling and awe at the scale. Many a visitor to Lastation had remarked that it seemed like the whole world could fit into its grand halls; and of course they would, when one hallway was wide enough to fit a commercial jetliner through with room to spare-and with enough ceiling space to let it fly rather freely.

Now, however, with the lights off and everyone asleep, they were just inconvenient. Thankfully Noire knew the place like the back of her hand-fitting, as she blueprinted it-and quickly found her living quarters.

Right as she gripped the door's handle, she felt like the Technology Expo would have a major setback.

"It'll probably be that Jubei idiot, trying way too hard to show off his new handmade toy...whatever."

/

_The next day_...

The Lowee sun rose over the horizon when day broke, bathing the inn room with a warm orange glow. Momiji was already awake by then, staring off into the golden horizon with awe, admiring the way the sunlight bounced off of buildings, mountains, clouds, and so much more to create a mesmerizing sight. Alba woke up a little later, rather unappreciative of the sun's glory.

Alba shielded her eyes while rising. "My CPU, someone turn the damn light off..." She groggily droned, half-asleep.

Momiji giggled a little. "You'll have to wait till nighttime for that."

Alba scoffed and rose out of the bed, closing the blinds. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. You know what snow glare can do to your eyes." Her eyes were only half-open during all of this.

"You're a sour person, you know. What happened to you?"

Alba honestly didn't have an answer for that. She supposed that she could've found one if she looked hard enough, but digging throughout her whole backstory was not on her must-do list. "Look, this isn't going to be the scene where I dump my whole backstory on you. Wait for that."

"...You're just like my brother." Momiji's mind flashed to images of Jubei-always working, always scowling, always coldly examining data. All the awards, accolades, and achievements in the world didn't seem to satisfy him. "I guess you're going home, right?"

"Home?" Alba let the words mingle in her brains for a little bit. "Nah...I guess..." She wanted to say that firmly, but her mind began to comprehend the enormity of up-and-leaving her home. Yes, she hated how they had saddled her with a shop to inherit, but on the other hand, they had cared for her, fed her, taught her shopkeeping...just leaving them was callous; but she wanted to get the hell out of her hometown. She struggled visibly with the dilemma, prompting a response from Momiji.

"You're not so sure, are you?"

Alba awkwardly tried to stammer out a response but only resulted in being caught on her own words. She tried to translate her true feelings into speech, but they were so scrambled upon reaching her tongue she gave up, blushing while diverting her gaze. She couldn't stare into Momiji's friendly eyes.

Momiji kindly caressed her shoulder. "It's probably hard. Really, I feel the same way sometimes when I leave Planeptune against my brother's wishes. But you have to do what _you_ want to do. Other people can't decide for you." She spoke like a truly altruistic (wo)man of the cloth.

Alba slowly met her eyes. "You're surprisingly perceptive. I had you pegged for a complete airhead."

"Everyone's got hidden depths. Me. You. Even Stein there." She pointed to the sleeping man on the other bed, the blanket wrapped un-elegantly around him.

Alba smirked, stifling a laugh. "I'm not so sure about him."

Stein tossed in the bed, as if he was dreaming about something unsettling.

/

_Inside Stein's dream..._

_"Why? Why do the CPUs get all the power!?"_

_"I don't know, Jubei, just...please stay quiet! What if they come for us!?"_

_"I have to prevent this...humans should be able to stand up to CPUs, dammit!"_

_"Jubei, PLEASE...you know what Leanbox does to heretics..."_

_"I have to-I'm gonna become a scientist, and I'm gonna take out those damn CPUs with my bare hands!"_

_"Jubei, my CPU..."_

_"You heard me! I must...it's the only way for peace. I have to prevent the Console Wars from happening again. People don't need CPUs! We'll get by on our own just fine!"_

_"But, that's not what science is for! It's for helping people, not hurting them!"_

_"You're not listening...goodbye...I'm leaving for Planeptune with my sister. To know the enemy, one must work for them...You can keep that dumb sword, it was pointless anyway."_

_"Jubei...JUBEIIIIII! Come back, come on, don't do this...or you'll only destroy yourself in the end..."_

That elegiac dream always came to him, even if he couldn't remember it. It rumbled around in his subconscious, lying quietly like some kind of reminder of his _real_ quest.

It gave his travels meaning. Before he threw it away with drinking himself into an early grave.

/

"Leanbox...Jubei...come back..." The words slowly poured out Stein's mouth like a jumbled waterfall. Alba and Momiji were first unaware of their source but quickly realized that Stein was sleep-talking.

"Stein?" Alba walked over to the bed, Momiji following, utterly confused.

"Leanbox...heretics...Jubei...come back..." The words tumbled out again, strained, like it pained Stein to say them.

Both Alba and Momiji stared at each other in shock. Their minds _immediately_ picked the dirtiest interpretation possible.

"Oh...oh my!" Momiji blushed as red as a tomato, rubbing her eyes in surprise. "Stein...I had no idea you were like that..."

Alba was just as surprised. "So all that lechery was just a cover-up for your true feelings?" Rather..._risque_ images flashed through her mind-not that her mind didn't appreciate them. "Wow, that's...actually kinda hot." The rather explicit fantasies continued to flash in her head.

Momiji recoiled from the now rather..._aroused_ Alba. "What...what the hell are you thinking about?"

Alba's eyes were almost sparkling. "Oh man oh man, which one's the seme and which one's the uke?" Her tone was high-pitched and excited.

"Y-you r-rotten woman!"

"Hey, Stein may be an idiot but he's got looks..."

/

After that interesting aside, Stein woke up, un-cognizant of what he had been dreaming of. He greeted the girls with a yawn and proceeded to pilfer his stocks of alcohol.

Momiji decided to take action and got the attention of both of them. "I know you guys like to travel, so how about you come to my house in Planeptune?" Alba and Stein's eyes flew wide open. "Oh please, you might as well...both of you seem like you don't miss home."

Stein shrugged. "I don't really have a home...can't remember where I came from, really. It's like the first 7 years of my life have just disappeared from memory."

Alba scoffed. "Amnesia? How cliche. Especially when the first game already did that schtick..." She debated asking Stein about his mutterings while asleep, but she decided against pushing a possibly sensitive issue.

"Well, maybe we can help with that on Planeptune..." Momiji tried to sound positive.

"It can't be helped, I suppose." Stein shrugged yet again in acquiescence. "I wouldn't mind actually having a house. Alba?"

Alba jumped a little from the sudden question. She honestly didn't know the answer. Her parents... "I...maybe I should tell my parents I'm leaving."

"Yeah." Momiji smiled wide. "You should do that. Try to mend the broken bond."

Alba wished she could refuse those sparkling eyes.

/


	4. Chapter 4: Family Ties

A Drunkard's Lost Sword

Chapter 4: Family Ties

Sorry, so sorry for not writing this for a while, guys. That always happens when I write fanfic. I swear this is going to be the first one I finish...

Note that when Stein is girl!form I still call him "he" because he's a dude mentally. Don't assume he's switched back unless I explicitly say he has.

Not much else to say here.

/

Alba's parents lived in a small house near the outskirts of town, on the opposite side to the inn. Alba herself had never thought much of it, a small, one-story affair with little in the way of fancy styling or total land. But her parents believed that a small but well-furnished house was preferable to a massive yet lonely mansion.

Snow was lightly falling as the sun illuminated the town with an orange glow. For Alba, it was uncannily melancholy. Almost no one was out and about yet. She was walking alone, each step feeling heavier than the last. Silently, she cursed the length she had to go. She felt like a convict walking to the gallows. Right afterwards, she admonished herself for making such a ridiculous comparison.

"I'm walking to my parents' house and I'm acting like some kind of criminal about to be executed...what the hell is wrong with me?" Her reason for talking aloud when no one could hear eluded her.

The quiet walk did allow her to gather her thoughts. When she looked back on her life, she thought about how petty her endless dislike for her own family was. It wasn't them. It was her hometown; it was just so _boring _and dull to a wannabe-adventurer like her. But you couldn't bitch at a town, so she had decided to take it out on her parents. A pang of regret for acting so insolent hit her heart like an arrow.

_"Why do we have to live here?! Why do I have to take over your dumb shop!"_

_"Alba, there's nothing wrong with this town...you're so disrespectful."_

_"Nothing wrong? Everything's wrong with this fucking dump! I hate you so much! ARGH!"_

She tried to place herself in her parents shoes, and the arrow of regret quickly became a ballista. "Man, I was a whiny asshole back then, wasn't I? Putting you two through so much shit. Fuck, man. I'm sorry. I'm fucking sorry!"

She kicked the white snow layered on the road like frosting. A small mound flew up and unceremoniously fell back down. The lack of lights from the houses and shops around her truly made her feel lonely.

She wiped her eyes while starting to walk again. Ostensibly it was for waking her up. But the water on her hand showed otherwise.

/

About a half-hour later, she reached the house. It was exactly the same as it had always been. The triangular roof was covered in a thick sheet of snow slowly sliding off the sides. The front was painted a pleasing orange, and the small lawn, barely big enough for a bicycle, was cleanly and recently cut. It was so normal, so like every other damn house on the block, she felt like she was being taunted. Grimacing, she walked up to the door, each step feeling like it was an eternity. Her whole body felt like it was twice its weight. The lights were shining inside. With a heavy and sluggish motion, she knocked on the door twice.

No response came. She took a longing look back at the road-for a second she desperately wanted to run away and forget that house, that town, that shop, forget everything and run to Planeptune with Momiji and Stein, never setting a single foot inside Lowee until they shipped her ashes back to Lowee so she could be buried under the blessing of White Heart. But she didn't run. She motioned to knock again, this time even slower, but the door slowly creaked open, a small beam of light shining out of it. The person on the other side wasn't visible.

"Yes? Who is it?" A woman's voice.

A few seconds passed before Alba said anything. "...It's me." Alba couldn't even look at the door; she diverted her gaze to the ground. Her cheeks were on fire.

The woman on the other side gave a sigh whose meaning was utterly inscrutable. "Come on in, Alba." She said it in the most loving way possible. Alba couldn't even believe how this woman, her own mother, could have remained this loving towards her. Not after all the things she had done over her life.

She could sense that the woman had stepped back. She clearly expected Alba to open the door herself and come in, an expectation which managed to make Alba feel yet another pang of regret pierce her heart. She clenched her fists till her knuckled turned white. She was to be the one who started the mending, not her parents. She had to be the one who would come in and try to fix things. She desperately wished that she didn't have to be the proactive one, but she managed to open the door anyway and slowly walk inside. While she gripped the handle and swung it open, a few tears started to fall from her eyes, splashing without applause on the snow below.

She had always been taught that snow symbolized White Heart's purifying grace. But now, she felt as if even the Goddess herself would find her too sinful to be cleansed.

The inside of her house was exactly the same as she remembered it. The floor was still wooden. The walls were painted a faint light blue that almost appeared white, the same color as the Goddess' hair, a symbol of her family's piety. Near the west wall lied a small kitchenette; the east had a few decent chairs and one large TV.

Her mother was a heavenly figure who appeared much like a slightly taller, more busty version of the girl herself. She was like an angel, radiating a presence that seemed to calm everyone, yet Alba right then felt like a sinner repelled such a presence. Her father was nowhere to be seen, though Alba presumed that he was calmly dealing with logistics like he was wont to do.

Her mother motioned gracefully towards two small chairs, bound in leather, kept in nearly impeccable condition despite their age. Alba lethargically walked over to one without a sound, feeling like she was less moving her body than dragging it. With a sigh she sat down.

While her mother strolled over to the other one with an elegance that would've wowed any suitor, Alba wondered why she suddenly felt terrible when she had spent so much time ignoring her parents and feeling fine. Maybe it was the fact that she actually had to face them instead of push them off into her mind. Maybe it was the fact that she had to view them as actual people, not malignant forces that saddled her with a shop she didn't want in a town she hated. Maybe...she didn't know the answer.

Her mother sat down and began to speak, her tone soft and forgiving, almost enough to make Alba feel better. "Alba...I noticed that you were not at the shop yesterday."

Alba said nothing, morosely staring at the wood below.

"...Is something the matter?"

Alba's eyes darted across the floor, tracking a minor crack in the grain, her mind clearly struggling to say something. Soon, however, she just exploded with passioned apologies. "I'm sorry, okay!" She was yelling as loud as she could. "I'm sorry, I treated you like shit all my life and now I'm leaving you guys because I'm that much of an asshole!" Tears were streaming down her face. She went right back to staring at the floor, tears slowly falling onto it and hitting the ground like raindrops.

Her mother said nothing for a while, taking in the outburst. She seemed utterly unfazed by it. "...Alba, it's fine. Yes, you were a handful at times, when you would yell at us, run away for a few hours, wreck the shop...but you're a great and kind-hearted girl underneath, I know it."

"No..*sob* no I'm not." Burying her face in her hands, Alba continued to choke out words inbetween sobs. "Goddessdammit...I'm an idiot. I'm sorry for all those times I fucked you up...*sob*breaking your precious vase, running off with rare stuff and losing it, pissing off that one rich investee and making him break your deal..." The tears stopped falling as she finally got a grip on herself. Sighing to clear her mind, Alba finally managed to look her mother in the eye, finding comfort in her warm and inviting eyes. She then told the whole story-from meeting Stein to Momiji's offer in the inn.

Her mother nodded as she talked. At the end, she began to speak. "I see...Alba, if you want to leave for Planeptune, I can't stop you."

"Really? When you want me to inherit the shop?"

"That'll only happen when we die. And trust me, we won't die for a while." Her mother laughed a little, cheering the two of them up. "I can understand why you want to leave and adventure. Honestly, I know you feel bad about when you were a kid, but that was when you were a kid."

"I just..." Alba stopped, trying to find the right words. "You're too saintly, you know? You can take anything. Are you hiding some kind, I dunno, inner torment that's eating you away but you act like nothing's wrong...?"

"Alba, if that was happening, I would've snapped and killed you by now. Trust me, I'm-we're-fine."

"Yeah." That was a different voice, behind the two. Alba's father, who had actually been watching the whole thing from a hallway, came out into the living room. He was a rather muscular and stocky man, clearly used to moving heavy boxes and shipments around. Like his family, he had pale blue hair, and was wearing a thick denim outfit suited for haulers. The dirt and dust on his outfit evinced that he had recently been working outside. "Trust me, when I was a kid, I was 100% worse." He coughed a little and walked closer to them. "I know how it feels. When I grew up and started this shop of ours, I wanted to go back to my parents and apologize for everything my little-shit self had done. But kids are kids."

Alba, stunned, wanted to cry-but not from sadness but happiness. "Really...? I mean, I had always thought you two secretly hated me." She got up and stretched. "Man, I had felt like a sinner when I was walking here. You sure you don't mind me adventuring?"

"Of course not. You're practically an adult now anyway. Just one thing." A devious smile came over her father's face. "Make sure to compensate me for those weapons you and that man took."

Alba's veins turned to ice in a second. The immense price those sais had to cost soon began to flash in her head as a cold sweat came down her face. "Oh...oh White Heart, what do they cost?"

"I'd say the Sais are around...150,000C at the very least."

"WHAT!?" Alba's face began to contort through _several _faces of sheer incredulity. "That much for two small weapons!? I could buy a Yamauchi L35 XR from Lastation with that money! "

"Of course! They are incredibly rare you know-came from the Ultradimension!" Her father was now grinning maniacally, his visage enough to make Alba start creeping for the door.

"W-what about the sword? That S-Stein took?"

"That thing? Oh that thing's worthless."

"...I suspected as much."

Her father gave her a big pat on the shoulder, nearly knocking her over with his enthusiastic force. "I hope you start wiring me the money soon!"

"I..." Suddenly, a great idea began to grip Alba's mind, which was highly relieving given that she was about to take on a debt that could buy a luxury sports car: why not expand the family business? She didn't hate shopkeeping, after all-she hated staying in her boring town. "I...have a good idea to solve this little problem. How about I expand the family business to new landmasses?" Her parents' eyes lit up in surprise. "Then maybe you can get a cut of the profits. I could hire some guys on the other landmasses, you know? Become a CEO. Make an empire. I'm traveling, you staying at home, all while our empire makes big bucks." She was well aware that this idea was completely insane, but that never really stopped her before. Perhaps beating that wolf made her _too_ confident.

But her parents clearly didn't mind the risk and difficulty, as they enthusiastically nodded in unison the moment she was finished. "That's a brilliant idea!" The family spent the next half-hour talking about the idea. It was pretty simple-Alba would simply open up new shops in Planeptune, Leanbox, and Lastation and hire people to work in them. Of course, getting everything set up would require some work; nearly all business-starters in Gamindustri asked the goddess of where they wanted to the set up shop for blessings, but would Neptune, Noire, and Vert really do that when the profits ended up going back to Lowee? Sure, she could not ask for the blessing, but no one would trust store that didn't have it. Alba bitterly praised the genius of the CPUs: despite the blessings being, for all intents and purposes, useless and bereft of any actual effects, they still had managed to install a system where people would not only ask for the blessings, therefore stroking the CPUs endless egos, no one would trust a store without them: thus enforcing the idea that one should give faith to the CPUs.

Religion in Gamindustri was practically a state-funded business.

When she left her parents' house, feeling refreshed and imbued with a new energy, Alba quickly thought over the difficulties she was about to face. "Huh...gonna have to get the blessing of Neptune, Noire, and Vert...not like that's gonna be easy, but the Lastation Technology Expo will give me plenty of time to schmooze and possibly bribe them...this is gonna be interesting..."

/

The walk back was uneventful, though many more people were now walking the snow-covered streets.

When she reached the inn, Alba quickly ran up to the second floor, excited to tell her plans to the other two. Her run, however, was ended by hearing a massive scream from Momiji. "OH MY PURPLE HEART, WHO ARE YOU!?"

Alba already knew exactly what had happened as the counter-lady downstairs rushed upstairs and stopped next to her, her eyes wide-open in shock, clearly looking like she had just been jolted awake. "W-what was that?! It sounded like it came from your room!"

"I...think I know what is going on." Alba rubbed her chin contemplatively.

Inside her room, a conversation was going on-though it was more a shouting match.

"I told you, I'm Stein!"

"You can't be Stein! Stein's a man! You're a _girl_!"

"It's...it's a long story, I swear! But it makes sense!"

"H-How can I trust you!?"

A few minutes later, the trio had been escorted outside by security for disrupting the inn's other patrons. Stein was still in girl form.

Alba quickly told a skeptical Momiji the whole story. Unfortunately, she was still untrusting. "I...this is a tall order for me to accept..." Her voice was shaking and uneasy. She kept her distance from the Girl!Stein.

Stein sighed, his breasts slowly bobbing with each breath. "I didn't ask to be like this..."

Momiji shot a few more glaring looks at Stein before exasperatedly throwing her hands into the air. "I give. I guess I can't really deny it...mind telling me how-"

"_Hell. __**No.**_" Stein shot that out with such conviction both girls recoiled. They glanced at each with a "let's-not-push-this-any-further" look. An awkward silence quickly permeated the air, the trio gawking at each other, each one desperately hoping the other two would speak first.

"...Um, well, let's...let's get something to eat and then leave for Planeptune." Alba quickly tried to break the silence.

The other two sighed in unison, thankful for her boost to the conversation. Momiji nodded at her question. "Yeah. Planeptune is pretty far from here, so I guess we'll need to take a plane. Eh, I can buy us the tickets. We'll be going first-class, of course."

Stein scoffed at her. "How weak. We could just travel across Lastation and Leanbox to get there. We're adventurers, dammit-" Alba silently strolled over to her and slammed her fist straight on his head. "OW! What was that for!?" Stein began to rub his aching head, his vision blurred.

"Yeah, we're adventurers, and that means we use modern technology, dammit. I'm not walking across two goddessdamn landmasses to get to Planeptune when there's a perfectly serviceable airport right next to White Heart's quarters. Idiot. Don't pick the hardest difficulty when it gets you nothing extra."

"Don't choose the lowest one if there's no satisfaction!"

/

After that little commotion, the trio found themselves inside a small restaurant, about to be waited on. The place was a little cozy joint with a very "retro" feel, so to speak. The waitress handed them three menus, in laminated plastic and rather colorful, when they entered. Not many others were inside, and the ambiance was laid-back. They were sitting at a booth seat next to the windows. Across from them was a small bar, though Alba widely prevented Stein from going there, knowing that a woman transforming into a man in a puff of smoke would _probably_ cause some kind of commotion, never mind possibly get them mistaken for bombing arsonists.

Stein and Momiji were eagerly scanning over their laminated menus, but Alba hadn't even picked hers up.

"What's the matter? Not hungry?" Stein asked her when he noticed her menu lying flat on the table. "Did you get something to eat at your parents?"

"Nah..." Alba lazily slumped against her seat and yawned. "Heh...I'll take whatever you're taking."

"Not a discerning eater, huh?"

"It's just food...it's nothing to get super serious about. Not like we have much choice here in Lowee."

In an instant, Stein slammed his menu down onto the table, a loud "CRACK!" resounding from the laminated plastic. Both jumped in surprise, Momiji "eep!"-ing a little. In contrast to his normally laid-back attitude, his face was intensely serious, a dark shadow almost on it. "It's not just food..." He sounded as if Alba had just desecrated his religion. "If you don't care about food, how can you even call yourself a person!?" A few of other people in the store started giving the trio strange looks.

Alba's face was burning with fremdschamen. She honestly couldn't tell what had pissed Stein off so much. "What...what are you talking about?" She quickly scooted away from him, a little worried for her own safety.

Stein slammed his fist down onto the table with force enough to make the various condiments and utensils on it clatter. "I'm talking about how important food is!" His eyes were closed in a haughty manner, like those of an intellectual schooling an idiot. "If you're going to need something to survive, then you _should _care about it! You have to eat everyday, thus you should care about what goes in! I'll let you know that I'm not half bad when it comes to cooking." He ended his 'lecture' by resting his hands under his bosom.

"I...I didn't know you cared that much."

"Of course you didn't." Stein laughed haughtily like a noblewoman. "Ho ho ho! I have many hidden depths, Alba, depths you haven't even begun to notice! My mind is filled with endless amounts of character and knowledge!" He was so preoccupied with stroking his ego he failed to notice Alba's eye-rolling.

"Your mind may seem delicious on the outside, but inside it's all empty calories." She silently congratulated herself for the rather apropos metaphor.

"You think you're so funny, don't you? As an adventurer, of course I care about what I eat. How else can I adventure far and wide?"

"I had assumed you had evolved the ability to subsist solely on booze and the hypothetical possibility that you'll get pity-screwed by a girl."

Momiji wisely chose to avoid the following verbal struggle.

/

Somehow they managed to order food without killing each other. Ironically, all three of them had happened to order the same thing-mushroom soup, which was, for reasons lost to time at this point, one of Lowee's national foods. Regardless of the surprising unison choice, all three of them appreciated the warm broth compared to the cold outside.

They ate for a while before Alba decided to bring up her plan. "Well, guys, I wanted to talk about something." She waited for the other two to stop eating before continuing. "I talked with my parents early today. We've managed to make up, or more I managed to stop thinking that they hated me..."

"Get to the point." Stein rather abruptly cut in. Alba could feel her hands shaking, wanting badly to strangle him in the hopes of shutting him up forever.

However, she quickly regained control. "...As I was saying: we'll need to pay for those weapons me and Stein took. So, I'm thinking about expanding the family business to the other landmasses, starting with Planeptune when we get there." Had they been RPG characters, Stein and Momiji would've have a garish "!" pop above their heads. "Crazy, I know. Momiji, you don't have to-"

Momiji quickly cut in. "No, it's fine. That's a pretty cool idea, even! I'll be sure to help you."

"Aren't you rich enough to just pay for the weapons yourself?" Stein's suggestion made the girls nod, thinking about it.

"Well," Alba said after rubbing her chin in contemplation for a few seconds, the smoke from her soup delicately wafting below her face. "She could do that, but Momiji isn't a part of this. And I really do want to try this. Plus, we can make tons of money if we do it right. The real problem is somehow convincing the CPUs of other landmasses to give us their blessing."

Momiji raised her hand like a schoolkid-both Stein and Alba giggled a little at her cute enthusiasm. "If you have me, then Neptune shouldn't be too much trouble. Though she is rather capricious."

"Well, yeah. But what about Noire and Vert? They're probably not gonna like some Lowee chick setting up shop where they live. I can't see why they care so much, anyway...these landmasses have populations in the millions. We're just some random people, yet we have to get an audience with the goddesses." Alba sighed at the difficulties she was going to face. "These goddesses rule too much of our lives, honestly. Can't live a damn day without having to obsequiously suck up to them, you practically gotta give them sexual favors to take a fucking piss." She lowered her voice-saying such blasphemous things may have been legal in Lowee, but it was still strongly proscribed by the avergae populace.

Stein suddenly grew highly morose, his head hanging low and looking downwards. "...I think you're right."

Momiji looked between the two worriedly. "I-It's not like that on Planeptune! Neptune's not as bad. Besides, the CPUs _do_ have a tendency to go on strange adventures and basically ignore us sometimes, but they do care. I swear." She noticed that the other two's morose expressions didn't change, and nervously spoke again. "I-I m-mean...they protect the landmasses from monsters, and they have saved Gamindustri-"

Alba swiftly motioned for her to stop. "I'm sorry. Maybe I'm just a bitter person in general. Maybe I'm just a jealous person in general. Man," She smiled ironically at her own flaws. "I'm just plain f-ed up."

"As for me..." Stein seemed like he was trying to remember something from his past, his face scrunched up as he searched his memories. But there was always that blank. He could never remember it...no matter how hard he tried, it was like there was an impenetrable wall blocking it. It wasn't that it had been erased-he could sense its presence, taunting him endlessly. "Well, I've seen some stuff. Stuff that'll make you question your loyalties. The console wars'll do that you."

Nobody said anything for a few seconds. The air seemed so thick it was tangible. Stein slowly relaxed his expression.

Alba started to clumsily shift out of her seat. "Let's finish." It was less a a suggestion and more a command. They continued to eat in silence, their movements much slower and more deliberate, each one making sure not to make eye contact. When finished, they quickly threw some money down on the table and left wordlessly.

/

White Heart lived near the base of the mountain range that defined Lowee. The town Alba, Stein, and Momiji were at, however, was on the other side of them. Climbing was out of the question, so they quickly hitched a 4-hour train ride. Lowee's airport, a rather small deal with only three runways and several planes imported from Lastation, was nearby the CPUs residence, as it was mostly used by those from other landmasses who wished to speak with her.

On the train, Alba sat two seats in front of Stein (who was back to his male self now) and Momiji. The whole ride, she simply stared forward, her hands brought together like a scheming villain. But she wasn't one for scheming at the time. Right before they had left for the train ride, she had grabbed a small notebook from her house. Her parents had never known about it-it wasn't even her own notebook, but one she picked up when she was a kid.

It had been a particularly cold day. Right as she was running back home, she saw a small book poking out from the snow. She didn't know why she had grabbed it then, nor had she ever figured out why. But she had. She took it home and read it, but stopped after only one page. She never read more. Until now.

She slowly pulled it out of her bag. It felt 10 times as heavy as it should have. Perhaps that was because of what was in it.

There were only two pages. The writing was barely decipherable and constantly covered in small dots of some kind of liquid obscuring letters, as if the writer had been rushing like mad.

_Goddess help me._

_Running to Lo*ee with Fr*st. I don't even kn*w if that's his real name, but dammit I can't trust anyone anyway. These CPUs a*e insane. I saw those L**nbo* soldiers exe*uting those heretics, I didn* w*nt to but * did, can't deny it th*y wan*ed to kill *e too _

_What the hell is wrong with this goddamn place these CONSOLE WARS are shams, just a bunch of goddesses *********************************************_

_*y hand is bl**ding, go*dessd**mit got to get it ban**ged but ******************************************** All this ***** is making it hard to read********************-_

The rest of the page was utterly indecipherable. The second page was clearly written sometime afterwards, as it mostly was clear of blotches.

_Page 2:_

_It's not right for them to have all this power...it's not right that they can make us fight and kill each other like this, they act like cute girls on the outside but *************************** Gamindustri needs a revolution, with science, I can free this world from their shackles, the others look at me like I'm insane but it's the only ********************* we don't NEED them, we only NEED ourselves._

_*********Have to leave, this thing is worthless to me. I guess I'll just throw it out, no one'll find it in the snow._

That was it. Alba closed it. It seemed as incomprehensible to her now as it did back then. "Why do I keep this thing...what the hell. Whoever wrote it must've been a bitter person like me." She spoke to herself, low enough so no one else could hear. "They sound like one of those radical guys. I wonder if they're still alive..." She wistfully gazed out to the endless tracts of snow beyond.

/

_On Planeptune..._

Despite the stereotype it had for being a land swathed in technology from sun-up to sun-rise, where computers helped old ladies across the street and every schoolkid had a laptop, Planeptune had some surprisingly nice fields and nature outside the main cities.

Nepgear was enjoying a relaxing stroll throughout a barely marred by technological progress. Even a girl like her, in love with man-made machinery, couldn't deny the calm and quiet. The air wasn't stuffy and filled with the endless orchestra that was the voices of thousands of people talking. Light was allowed to play freely, delicately playing off the swooping terrain, not constricted in and artificially thrown about in odd right angles by skyscrapers. There was a certain beauty to the light in cities, yes, but after having spent so long in them, she relished the ability to relax.

Nepgear stretched out at the top of a hill, watching the endless rolling hills before her stretch on for what seemed like an eternity. A city was barely visible over the horizon, it's tallest skyscrapers barely capable of peeking over the land. Almost no human could be seen for miles.

Despite appearing like such a young girl, she wasn't much of a human. Being CPU Candidate meant that she measured her lifespan in hundreds of years, not tens. She had seen things...things that would shake a normal person to their core. Sometimes, she pondered if she had been shaken to her own core, and simply denied it, repressed it. Sometimes, she wondered if her long lifespan was having deleterious effects on her psyche.

But then she remembered her friends. Neptune, of course. But also people like Uni, Ram, Rom, Noire, Vert...when she remembered them, she felt better. Knowing that she had people to turn to whenever something screwed-up was happening.

Her mind drifted to a man. A man who had no one to turn to.

Jubei Inumaru.

_"What happened!? Are you hurt!?"_

_"I...Leanbox...console wars...got hurt...achARRRRRGGH!"_

_"You're bleeding badly! Who are you and that girl?"_

_"Jubei...Momiji...please, I can't walk any farther..."_

_"I'll help you to the hospital! Come on, please stand just a little longer!"_

_"I'll try...Momiji, hold on, please, don't you die on me too..."_

She remembered that day, when she was strolling near the every edge of Planeptune and saw a man half-dead lying motionlessly. She always would. He had no one besides a small girl with him, who looked scared out of her wits. She remembered bringing that man, covered in blood, two steps from death, to the closest hospital, where he and his sister both fainted.

The first few days, she had been told, were nerve-wracking. The doctors had worked their absolute best and resorted to pulling out every single stop they had to save Jubei and Momiji, both of whom required intense medical attention. It was two days before Jubei even could say a word, his body connected up to an endless array of machines. Had he landed anywhere but Planeptune, he wouldn't have survived.

He was a blessing in disguise, however. She remembered that when she returned a week later, he was sitting in his bed, scribbling some notes onto a piece of paper. His body was covered in stitches, and had what seemed like an endless amount of machines hooked up to it. Everytime he spoke he coughed like it hurt tremendously. She took him for a normal man, one who was just like any other. But when she began to talk to him...

_"What are you scribbling?"_

_"I...augh...I'm writing down a method for maximizing shares. I...I heard-AUGH!-...heard Planeptune was suffering a slight shortage."_

_"Yes, we are, but...how would you fix that?"_

_"It's simple...I just started formulating this equation, it's much more efficient...see, you're doing all of this when you could just square S-"_

_"But we tried that. It doesn't work, it adds more inefficiency down the line!"_

_"Yes, but if you add another variable here, J, which represent a specific number I invented: the Jubei number. 3.475e8. With this, you can cut out half the original equation-remember how you had to formulate a new M every time you increased the amount of shares by 10%? J gets rid of that..._

Nepgear had walked over and viewed it. It was less than 2 lines worth, but it stunned her at the time. She knew, from then on, that Jubei was a genius of the highest caliber. Within a day of being released she personally petitioned him for the main scientist of PTEL. Her choice had never failed her.

But Jubei was...odd. He was a genius, who quite often made breakthroughs that stunned everyone in Gamindustri, but he had a tendency to ignore the rules, to forge new paths even when they led to dark conclusions. She gained the first inkling that something was off from his bitter rants whenever he was drunk.

_"Bah...CPUS...they aren't worth a daaaaaammmnn..."_

_"Jubei, are you alright, I think you're too drunk"_

_"Leanbox...Leanbox, Frost, Anna, heretics...all of it, they're all worthless. All of these wars are a sham...I can't stand any of them, we don't need CPUs...Gamindustri needs a revolution..."_

_"Jubei, don't say things like that, you know reporters could be anywhere!"_

That man could test her patience. There were times when he would go crazy at the lab, yelling indiscriminately at his assistants while simultaneously involving himself in the experiments. One infamous time (that made news Gamindustri-wide), he randomly walked up to an assistant and quite literally threw them from their station before haphazardly working on the experiment himself. The only reason he wasn't fired was because he made 6 scientific breakthroughs in two hours. His expertise outweighed hers immensely, but Nepgear was the only thing keeping him in check. Without her firm hands on the wheel, he would've gone full "mad scientist" a long time ago. Sometimes she mused on if he had _always _been a mad scientist.

Sometimes he eyed her lovingly. She always ignored it-she didn't dislike him, but it was strictly a friendship kind of thing. But sometimes he would try to take her on what were ostensibly simple outings to discuss science, when he really wanted a date. She obliged but always kept it platonic.

She sighed. Jubei was impossible to describe. His sister was much easier to deal with; she reminded Nepgear of her other friends, like the Lowee sisters, or Uni. But she didn't get to see Momiji much. Jubei kept her away in a house on the outskirts of Planeptune for Neptune only knows what reason.

She sent a quick prayer that the LTE would go well, and that Jubei wouldn't do anything crazy. "Sister, make sure, I swear, to keep this year's LTE sane..." Then she realized, as CPU Candidate, she should also work to ensure that it went smoothly. Standing up and taking in the vast, incomprehensible size of the hills in front of her, she swore to herself to keep things in check. "No matter what happens, I'll keep order. It's my job, not just as future CPU, but as second-in-command to this nation." Clenching her fist in determination, she began to walk back towards the city.

/

Quite a morose chapter (didn't help that I was listening to one of _Hoshizora No Memoria_'s saddest tracks while writing half of it) but it does advance the plot and have some character development in there. This fic is progressing at a good pace.


End file.
